Not the third day within the octave of the Epiphany

Giotto

Continuing this series on the readings from the old Office of the Octave of the Epiphany, today's homily comes from Pope St Gregory the Great:

The wise men brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold is the fitting gift to a King, frankincense is offered in sacrifice to God, and with myrrh are embalmed the bodies of the dead. By the gifts, therefore, which they presented unto Him, the wise men set forth three things concerning Him unto Whom they offered them; by the gold, that He was King; by the frankincense, that He was God; and by the myrrh, that He was to die. There are some heretics who believe Him to be God, but confess not His Kingly dominion over all things; these offer unto Him frankincense, but refuse Him gold. There are some others who admit that He is King, but deny that He is God; these present unto Him gold, but will not give Him frankincense.

There are some other heretics who profess that Christ is both God and King, but not that He took a dying nature; these offer Him gold and frankincense, but not myrrh for the Manhood. Let us, however, present gold unto the new-born Lord, acknowledging His universal Kingship; let us offer unto Him frankincense, confessing that He Who hath been made manifest unto us in time, is God before time was; let us give unto Him myrrh, believing that He Who cannot suffer as touching His Godhead, was made capable of death as touching the manhood which He shareth with us.

There is also another signification in this gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold is a type of wisdom; as saith Solomon x In the mouth of the wise abideth a treasure to be desired. Frankincense, which is burnt in honour of God, is a figure of prayer; witness the words of the Psalmist: Let my prayer be set forth as incense before thee. By myrrh is represented the putting to death of the body; as where the holy Church saith of her labourers who strive for God even unto death My hands dropped with myrrh.

Not the Octave of the Epiphany!

The removal of most of the octaves from the liturgical calendar was perhaps an understandable decision.  

But it was, I think, one of those reforms that went more than a few steps too far, most obviously in the abolition of the octave of Pentecost in the Ordinary Form calendar.  

Bring back the octave of the Epiphany and time after the feast!

Another case in point, in my opinion, is the abolition of the octave of the Epiphany, which is, I think, one of those decisions which it would be nice to reverse as a means of giving some genuine impetus to the 'New Evangelisation'.

The calendar reforms of the twentieth century saw a progress reduction in the importance of Epiphany, starting with the abolition of the octave of the feast, and culminating in the outright abolition, in the Novus Ordo calendar, of the traditional season of time after Epiphany.  

Yet Epiphany is, above all, the great feast of the revelation of God to the gentiles, represented by the three wise men.  So how could reducing the importance of this feast possibly be thought consistent with the objective of making the Church more missionary oriented? 

The 1962-63 Benedictine Office does at least retain the remnants of the old octave, in the form of the so-called 'Ordinary of the ferial office in the epiphany season' (January 7 to 12), including Benedictus and Magnificat antiphons for each day.  But I thought it might be of interest to provide the readings previously used during the Octave at Matins as well (from Divinum Officium).

Homily of St Gregory (for second day within the previous Octave of the Epiphany)

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

Matt 2:1-12

When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? And so on.

Homily by Pope St Gregory (the Great)

10th on the Gospels.

When Herod knew of the birth of our King, he betook himself to his cunning wiles, and lest he should be deprived of an earthly kingdom he desired the wise men to search diligently for the young Child, and when they had found Him, to bring him word again. He said, that he also might come and worship Him, but, in reality, that, when he had found Him, he might put Him to death. But, behold, of how light weight is the malice of man, when it is tried against the counsel of God. It is written There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel, against the Lord, Prov. xxi. 30. So the star which the wise men saw in the East, still led them on; they found the new-born King, and presented unto Him gifts; then they were warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod. And as it came to pass that, when Herod sought Jesus, he could not find Him even so is it with hypocrites, who, while they make pretence to seek the Lord to worship Him, find Him not.

It is as well to know that it is one of the opinions of the Priscillianist heretics l that every man is born under the influence of a star; and, to confirm this notion, they bring forward the instance of the star of Bethlehem, which appeared when the Lord was born; and which they call His star, that is, the star ruling over His fate or destiny. But if we consider the words of the Gospel concerning this star, they are It went before, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. Whence we see that it was not the young Child Who followed the star, but the star which followed the young Child, as if to show that the young Child ruled the star, instead of the star ruling Him.

But I pray that the hearts of the faithful may ever be free from the thought that anything ruleth their destiny. In this world there is but One Who ruleth the destiny of man, even He Who made man; neither was man made for the stars, but the stars for man; and if we say that they rule his destiny, we set them above him for whose service they were made. When Jacob came out of his mother's womb, and his hand took hold on his elder brother Esau's heel, he could not have done so unless this his first movement had been behind his brother, and, nevertheless, such was not in after life the position of those two brethren whom their mother brought forth at one birth.

Feast of the Epiphany (aka Twelfth Day)

The feast of the Epiphany actually celebrates several different epiphanies (theophanies), including the adoration of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus, and the miracle of the wine at Cana.

The readings at Matins are as follows:

Nocturn I: Isaiah 55:1-4; 60:1-6; 61:10-11; 62:1
Nocturn II: Sermon of Pope St Leo (on the Divinum Officium website, 1960 rubrics)
Nocturn III: Homily of Pope St Gregory (also available at Divinum Officium)
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12

IHS: Greek or Latin?

Assuming you aren't celebrating the newly created solemnity of (this year) Eleventh Day (aka 'Epiphany Sunday') you are probably celebrating the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, popularly represented in the Christogram IHS (if you are facing an Epiphany Sunday, you probably celebrated the novus ordo version of the feast of the Holy Name on Friday).

But are the origins of the abbreviation?

I have to say I had assumed it was Latin, but at Mass this morning our priest suggested it was from the Greek.

A little digging suggests that the case can be made for either language.

Latin origins?

The 1919 Catholic Encyclopedia gives it a Latin origin, saying:

"The emblem or monogram representing the Holy Name of Jesus consists of the three letters: IHS. In the Middle Ages the Name of Jesus was written: IHESUS; the monogram contains the first and last letter of the Holy Name. It is first found on a gold coin of the eight century: DN IHS CHS REX REGNANTIUM (The Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings)."

This sounds very plausible to me, particularly as the abbreviation was popularised in the West in the fourteenth century (its first known appearance in written text is in the English Vision of Piers the Plowman).

The Encyclopedia entry goes on to explain some 'bacronyms' propagated by the Jesuits (who else!) and others:

"Some erroneously say that the three letters are the initials of: "Jesus Hominum Salvator" (Jesus Saviour of Men). The Jesuits made this monogram the emblem of their Society, adding a cross over the H and three nails under it. Consequently a new explanation of the emblem was invented, pretending that the nails originally were a "V", and that the monogram stands for "In Hoc Signo Vinces" (In This Sign you shall Conquer), the words which, according to a legendary account, Constantine saw in the heavens under the Sign of the Cross before the battle at the Milvian bridge (312)."

Nonetheless, some modern sources do propose Greek origins for the letters.

The Greek explanation

In particular, the Wikipedia, citing three recent authors, claims that:

"In Eastern Christianity, the most widely used Christogram is a four-letter abbreviation, ΙϹΧϹ — a traditional abbreviation of the Greek words for "Jesus Christ" (i.e., the first and last letters of each of the words ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ — written "ΙΗϹΟΥϹ ΧΡΙϹΤΟϹ" with the lunate sigma "Ϲ" common in medieval Greek). On icons, this Christogram may be split: "ΙϹ" on the left of the image and "ΧϹ" on the right, most often with a bar above the letters (see titlos), indicating that it is a sacred name. It is sometimes rendered as "ΙϹΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ", meaning "Jesus Christ Conquers." "ΙϹΧϹ" may also be seen inscribed on the Ichthys. In the traditional icon of Christ Pantokrator, Christ's right hand is shown in a pose that represents the letters ΙϹ, Χ, and Ϲ....In the Latin-speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe (and so among Catholics and many Protestants today), the most common Christogram became "IHS" or "IHC", denoting the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, iota-eta-sigma, or ΙΗΣ...Because the Latin-alphabet letters I and J were not systematically distinguished until the 17th century, "JHS" and "JHC" are equivalent to "IHS" and "IHC"."

Second Sunday after the Nativity (aka Most Holy Name of Jesus)

This Sunday (or January 2 if there is no suitable Sunday) has been celebrated as the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus since the sixteenth century.

In the 1962  revamp of the Benedictine calendar, however, this was replaced by liturgical wreckovators, by the 'Second Sunday of the Nativity', complete with new texts.  The 1962 Roman Missal however remained unchanged, leading to an odd disjunction between the Benedictine Use and the Roman.  The wreckovators did try again temporarily succeed in their aims with respect to the Roman rite: the 1970 Missal made the feast optional only.  But it was restored in the 2002 calendar (albeit this year on January 3 rather than the Sunday, which has, in most places become Epiphany Sunday aka Eleventh Day!).

Accordingly, the omission of the feast in the Benedictine 'traditional' calendar of 1962-3 is anomalous.  If you attend a Roman EF, or your monastery includes the older feast in its calendar, and so want to celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, you can find the (Latin) texts in the Antiphonale Monasticum, at pages 276 ff.  Alternatively you could either use this to say the Office devotionally, or say the Office according to the Roman Breviary (Divinum Officium has the text).

Either way, Vespers on Sunday is for the following feast of the Epiphany, as Nativitytide officially finishes at None on Sunday this year, though of course the season of Epiphany is still part of the broader Christmas season.

Readings at Matins

The readings for Matins this Sunday (according to the 1962 Benedictine Breviary) are as follows:

Nocturn I: Romans 1-11 (note that reading 3 for January 5 is split in two to make four readings, and responsories are for the Sunday)
Nocturn II: Sermon of St Augustine
Nocturn III: Sermon of St Jerome on Matthew 9:2
Gospel: Mt 2:19-23

The Office this week in summary

Sunday 5 January –  Second Sunday after the Nativity, Class II [EF: Most Holy Name of Jesus]
Monday 6 January – Epiphany of Our Lord, Class I
Tuesday 7 January – Class IV
Wednesday 8 January – Class IV
Thursday 9 January – Class IV
Friday 10 January – Class IV; St Paul the First Hermit, memorial
Saturday 11 January – Saturday of Our Lady (Sat 2 of Jan) [EF: Commemoration of St Hyginus]

Lectio Divina Options

I've previously suggested on this blog that doing at least some lectio divina each day should surely be a key part of our daily spiritual regime.  St Benedict, after all, prescribes a balanced regime based on prayer (the Office), sacred reading (lectio divina), and work.

As his followers, we should, accordingly endeavour to maintain a balance between each of these appropriate to our state in life: more hours of work if we are laypeople than a monk would do, and less prayer and reading, but still some of each of these.

But when it comes to lectio divina, what should we take as our text?  Let me suggest a few options for your consideration for the new year.

Option 1: Study the psalms

For followers of St Benedict, knowing the psalms is surely the first priority.  St Benedict enjoins the study of the psalms twice in his Rule - once as a use for the gap between Matins and Lauds, and a second time in his discussion of the daily horarium.

Why?

The psalms are of course the backbone of his Office, their repetition each each week so crucial that the lessons are to be dropped if necessary, rather than the psalms be omitted or Lauds started late!  Yet the saint never actually explains why they are so important; rather  he just assumes we know that the psalms are the most quoted book of the Old Testament in the New, and long considered to contain the entire Bible in summary, poetic form.

Finding a good modern commentary on the psalms is not easy however.  Accordingly, I started putting together my own notes which you can find over at my blog Psallam Domino.  The posts there are intended to assist those wishing to use the psalms for lectio divina; to help understand them better in the context of the interpretations provided by the Magisterium, Fathers and Theologians; and to assist in learning to pray them in Latin.  The focus is very much on the context of the Benedictine form of the Divine Office.

Option 2: Systematic reading of the Gospels

A second option is to spread the reading of the Gospels over a year, taking one for each quarter.  The Gospels are obviously the most important books of the Bible for any Christian to be familiar with, so well worth the effort.  And there are any number of commentaries available to assist this task.  A good starting point is the Catena Aurea of St Thomas, providing an anthology of patristic commentaries for our consideration.

I've previously provided notes as prompts for lectio here on St John's Gospel, but for those interested, I've set up a separate blog Lectio Divina Notes so I can gauge better just how much interest (if any!) there is in these posts.  I plan to take here, looking at St Matthew's Gospel this quarter.

Option 3: (Rest of the) Bible in a year

Another option worth considering is systematically reading the rest of the Bible.

If you are feeling ambitious, a while back, a monk posted a suggested two possible reading plans for the Bible in a year over at New Liturgical Movement.  But if you are not a monk with several hours a day to devote to the task, you could devise a plan to spread your reading over two  or three years!

Option 4: The texts of the Sunday cycle

Another obvious option is to use the lectionary and propers used at the Mass.  If you normally attend the 1970 Missal Mass, there is so much material provided in the lectionary that you will have to select what to look at  - one obvious option being the epistles for each day.

In the traditional Mass the obvious option is to look at all the proper texts for the Sunday (and perhaps the texts of the other major feasts and seasons) - that is the Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Epistle, Gospel, Offertory and Communio - over a week.  The Church has, for centuries, selected out these texts as crucial to our instruction, repeating them year after year so that we can have them practically memorised, so exploring them in more depth for ourselves makes a great deal of sense.

The Sunday Gospels of course can easily take up two or three days in this regime, if one studies them with the aid of patristic sources such as using the excellent Sunday Sermons of the Fathers volumes.  And if the psalm verses or other text in the propers are too sparse or repetitive, it is no great problem to consider the whole psalm or chapter from which the text is taken.

(Cross-posted from Lectio Divina Notes)

Giving thanks for the year past: Te Deum Laudamus

Durer

There is a plenary indulgence to be gained if you participate in the public recitation of the Te Deum as thanksgiving on the last day of the year.  If said privately, it is a partial indulgence.  You can find the text here.



Remember too, that there is another plenary indulgence to be gained (under the normal conditions) for the public recitation of the Veni Creator on the first day of January.

Octave of the Nativity (aka Circumcision of Our Lord aka Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God)

New Year's Day is of course the Octave Day of Christmas.

At Matins in the Benedictine Office the readings are as follows:

Nocturn I: Romans 4:1-17
Nocturn II: Sermon of Pope St Leo
Nocturn III: Homily of St Ambrose
Gospel: Luke 2:21

Here are the third Nocturn readings:

(Reading 9): So the Child is circumcised. This is the Child of Whom it is said Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. Made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. To present Him to the Lord.  In my Commentary on Isaiah I have already explained what is meant by being presented to the Lord in Jerusalem, and therefore I will not enter into the subject again. He that is circumcised in heart gaineth the protection of God, for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.

(Reading 10): Ye will see that as all the ceremonies of the old law were types of realities in the new, so the circumcision of the body signified the cleansing of the heart from the guilt of sin.  But since the body and mind of man remain yet infected with a proneness' to sin, the circumcision of the eighth day is also a type of that complete cleansing from sin which we shall have at the resurrection. This ceremony was also performed in obedience to the commandment of God: Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy unto the Lord. These words were written with especial reference to the delivery of the Blessed Virgin.

(Reading 11): Truly He That opened her womb was holy, for He was altogether without spot, and we may gather that the law was written specially for Him from the words of the Angel That Holy Thing Which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.Among all that are born of women the Lord Jesus Christ stood alone in holiness. Fresh from His immaculate Birth, He felt no contagion from human corruption, and His heavenly Majesty drove it away.

(Reading 12): If we are to follow the letter and say that every male that openeth the womb is holy, how shall we explain that so many have been unrighteous? Was Ahab holy? Were the false prophets holy? Were they holy on whom Elijah justly called down fire from heaven? But He to Whom the sacred commandment of the law of God is mystically directed is the Holy One of Israel; Who also alone hath opened the secret womb of His holy Virgin-bride the Church, filling her with a sinless fruitfulness to give birth to Christian souls.

Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity

Giotto: Presentation in the Temple

This Sunday is the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity.

Matins readings

At Matins in the traditional Benedictine Office the readings are as follows:

Nocturn I: Romans 1:1-19
Nocturn II: Sermon of Pope St Leo
Nocturn III: Homily of St Ambrose
Gospel: Luke 2: 33-40

The Benedictine Office this week in summary

Up until (and including) Wednesday, the Office is of the Octave of Christmas. From Wednesday, the 'Ordinary of nativitytide' is used.

Sunday 29 December – Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity, Class II [in some places, St Thomas Beckett, Class I]

Monday 30 December – Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity, Class II (First nocturn readings are from a homily of St Ambrose)

Tuesday 31 December – Seventh Day within the Octave of the Nativity, Class II; commemoration of St Sylvester I (Readings from a Homily of St Leo)

Wednesday January 1 – Octave of the Nativity, Class I

Thursday January 2 – Class IV [**in some places, St Thomas of Canterbury] (Readings: Romans 5:1-12)

Friday January 3 - Class IV (Readings: Romans 6:1-18)

Saturday January 4 – Our Lady on Saturday; St Titus, memorial (Romans 7: 1-9; third reading of Our Lady)

St Thomas a Becket

In some countries today is the feast of St Thomas Becket, murdered in 1170 over a dispute over the rights of the Church with King Henry II.

Feast of the Holy Innocents

Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents.  The first Nocturn readings at Matins in the Benedictine Office are from Jeremiah 31: 15-23, while the Gospel is St Matthew 2:13-18.

The Second Nocturn readings are from a sermon of St Caesarius (sometimes ascribed to St Augustine, as it is over at the Divinum Officium website where you can also find the third Nocturn readings by St Jerome):

(Reading 5): Dearly beloved brethren, today we keep the birthday of those children, who, as we are informed by the Gospel, were massacred by the savage King Herod. Therefore let earth rejoice with exceeding joy, for she is the mother of these heavenly soldiers, and of this numerous host. The love of the vile Herod could never have crowned these blessed ones as hath his hatred.

(Reading 6): For the Church testifieth by this holy solemnity, that whereas iniquity did specially abound against these little saints, so much the more were heavenly blessings poured out upon them.Blessed art thou, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, which hast suffered the cruelty of King Herod in the slaughter of thy children; who art found worthy to offer at once to God a whole white-robed army of guileless martyrs!

(Reading 7): Surely, it is well to keep their birthday, even that blessed birthday which gave them from earth to heaven, more blessed than the day that brought them out of their mother's womb. Scarcely had they entered on the life that now is, when they obtained that glorious life which is to come.

(Reading 8): We praise the death of other martyrs because it was the crowning act of an undaunted and persistent testimony; but these were crowned at once. He That maketh an end to this present life, gave to them at its very gates that eternal blessedness which we hope for at its close. They whom the wickedness of Herod tore from their mothers' breasts are rightfully called the flowers of martyrdom; hardly had these buds of the Church shown their heads above the soil, in the winter of unbelief, when the frost of persecution nipped them.

Feast of St John the Evangelist

The readings for today's feast at Matins in the traditional Benedictine Office are as follows:

Nocturn I: First Letter of St John 1:1-10; 2:1-5a
Nocturn II: From St Jerome on Ecclesiastical Writers; Commentary on Galatians
Nocturn III: Homily of St Augustine

All can be found on the Divinum Officium website.  Here are the Second Nocturn readings, arranged as for the Benedictine Office:

(Reading 5): The Apostle John whom Jesus loved was a son of Zebedee, and brother of the Apostle James, who was beheaded by Herod soon after our Lord suffered. He was the last of the Evangelists to write his Gospel, which he published at the request of the Bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus and other heretics, and particularly against the then spreading doctrine of the Ebionites, who asserted that Christ had had no existence before Mary. It was therefore needful for the Evangelist to declare His Eternal and Divine Generation.

(Reading 6):In the fourteenth year after Nero, Domitian stirred up the second persecution, and John was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote his Apocalypse, which hath been explained by Justin the Martyr and Irenaeus.

(Reading 7): When Domitian was killed, the Senate annulled all his acts, on account of his savage cruelty, and the Apostle returned to Ephesus, during the reign of Nerva. He remained at Ephesus until the time of Trajan, and founded and governed all the Churches of Asia. There, in an extreme old age, he died, in the sixty-eighth year after the Lord's passion, and was buried near the city.

(Reading 8):The Blessed Evangelist John lived at Ephesus down to an extreme old age, and, at length, when he was with difficulty carried to the Church, and was not able to exhort the congregation at length, he was used simply to say at each meeting, My little children, love one another. At last the disciples and brethren were weary with hearing these words continually, and asked him, Master, wherefore ever sayest thou this only? Whereto he replied to them, worthy of John, It is the commandment of the Lord, and if this only be done, it is enough.

St Stephen the Protomartyr

Today is the feast of St Stephen, whose story is recorded in Acts 6:1-10; 7: 55-60 (first nocturn readings at Matins).  Here are the second Nocturn readings, from a Sermon of St Fulgenius (from Divinum Officium):

(Reading 5): Yesterday we were celebrating the birth in time of our Eternal King; to-day we celebrate the victory, through suffering, of one of His soldiers. Yesterday our King was pleased to come forth from His royal palace of the Virgin's womb, clothed in a robe of flesh, to visit the world; to-day His soldier, laying aside the tabernacle of the body, entereth in triumph into the heavenly palaces. The One, preserving unchanged that glory of the Godhead which He had before the world was, girded Himself with the form of a servant, and entered the arena of this world to fight sin; the other taketh off the garments of this corruptible body, and entereth into the heavenly mansions, where he will reign for ever. The One cometh down, veiled in flesh; the other goeth up, clothed in a robe of glory, red with blood.

(Reading 6): The One cometh down amid the jubilation of angels; the other goeth up amid the stoning of the Jews. Yesterday the holy angels were singing, Glory to God in the highest; to-day there is joy among them, for they receive Stephen into their company. Yesterday the Lord came forth from the Virgin's womb; to-day His soldier is delivered from the prison of the body.

(Reading 7): Yesterday Christ was for our sakes wrapped in swaddling bands; to - day He girdeth Stephen with a robe of immortality. Yesterday the new-born Christ lay in a narrow manger; to-day Stephen entereth victorious into the boundless heavens. The Lord came down alone that He might raise many up; our King humbled Himself that He might set His soldiers in high places.Why brethren, it behoveth us to consider with what arms Stephen was able, amid all the cruelty of the Jews, to remain more than conqueror, and worthily to attain to so blessed a triumph.

(Reading 8): Stephen, in that struggle which brought him to the crown whereof his name is a prophecy, had for armour the love of God and man, and by it he remained victorious on all hands. The love of God strengthened him against the cruelty of the Jews; and the love of his neighbour made him pray even for his murderers. Through love he rebuked the wandering, that they might be corrected; through love he prayed for them that stoned him, that they might not be punished. By the might of his love he overcame Saul his cruel persecutor; and earned for a comrade in heaven, the very man who had done him to death upon earth.

Happy Christmas!

c12th St Alban's Psalter

The second Nocturn readings at Matins today are from a Sermon of Pope St Leo (from Divinum Officium but divided as in the Benedictine Breviary):

(Reading 5): Dearly beloved brethren, Unto us is born this day a Saviour, Luke ii. 11. Let us rejoice. It would be unlawful to be sad to-day, for today is Life's Birthday; the Birthday of that Life, Which, for us dying creatures, taketh away the sting of death, and bringeth the bright promise of the eternal gladness hereafter. It would be unlawful for any man to refuse to partake in our rejoicing. All men have an equal share in the great cause of our joy, for, since our Lord, Who is the destroyer of sin and of death, findeth that all are bound under the condemnation, He is come to make all free.

(Reading 6): Rejoice, O thou that art holy, thou drawest nearer to thy crown! Rejoice, O thou that art sinful, thy Saviour offereth thee pardon! Rejoice also, O thou Gentile, God calleth thee to life! For the Son of God, when the fulness of the time was come, which had been fixed by the unsearchable counsel of God, took upon Him the nature of man, that He might reconcile that nature to Him Who made it, and so the devil, the inventor of death, is met and beaten in that very flesh which hath been the field of his victory.

(Reading 7): When our Lord entered the field of battle against the devil, He did so with a great and wonderful fairness. Being Himself the Almighty, He laid aside His uncreated Majesty to fight with our cruel enemy in our weak flesh. He brought against him the very shape, the very nature of our mortality, yet without sin. Heb. iv. 15. His birth however was not a birth like other births for no other is born pure, nay, not the little child whose life endureth but a day on the earth. To His birth alone the throes of human passion had not contributed, in His alone no consequence of sin had had -part. For His Mother was chosen a Virgin of the kingly lineage of David, and when she was to grow heavy with the sacred Child, her soul had already conceived Him before her body. She knew the counsel of God announced to her by the Angel, lest the unwonted events should alarm her. The future Mother of God knew what was to be wrought in her by the Holy Ghost, and that her modesty was absolutely safe.

(Reading 8): Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us give thanks to God the Father, through His Son, in the Holy Ghost: Who, for His great love wherewith He loved us, hath had mercy on us and, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, Eph. ii. 4, 5, that in Him we might be a new creature, and a new workmanship. Let us then put off the old man with his deeds (Col. iii. 9); and, having obtained a share in the Sonship of Christ, let us renounce the deeds of the flesh. Learn, O Christian, how great thou art, who hast been made partaker of the Divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4, and fall not again by corrupt conversation into the beggarly elements above which thou art lifted. Remember Whose Body it is Whereof thou art made a member, and Who is its Head, (1 Cor. vi. 15.) Remember that it is He That hath delivered thee from the power of darkness and hath translated thee into God's light, and God's kingdom, (Col. i. 13.)

Vigil of the Nativity

The Matins readings of the day (on Matthew 1:18-21) are from a Homily of St Jerome (from Divinum Officium):

Reading 1: Why was the Lord conceived of an espoused virgin rather than of a free? First, for the sake of the genealogy of Mary, which we have obtained by that of Joseph. Secondly, because she was thus saved from being stoned by the Jews as an adulteress. Thirdly, that Himself and His mother might have a guardian on their journey into Egypt. To these, Ignatius, the martyr of Antioch, has added a fourth reason namely, that the birth might take place unknown to the devil, who would naturally suppose that Mary had conceived by Joseph.

Reading 2: Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. She was found, that is, by Joseph, but by no one else. He had already almost an husband's privilege to know all that concerned her. Before they came together. This doth not imply that they ever did come together the Scripture merely showeth the absolute fact that up to this time they had not done so.

Reading 3: Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. If any man be joined to a fornicatress they become one body; and according to the law they that are privy to a crime are thereby guilty. How then can it be that Joseph is described as a just man, at the very time he was compounding the criminality of his espoused? It must have been that he knew her to be pure, and yet understood not the mystery of her pregnancy, but, while he wondered at that which had happened, was willing to hold his peace.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

This Sunday is the fourth in Advent, and the week marks the start of Christmastide (note that there are of course twelve days of Christmas!).

This week in the Benedictine Office

Sunday 22 December – Fourth Sunday of Advent, Class I

Matins readings:

Nocturn I:  Isaiah 35: 1-10; Is 41:1-4

Nocturn II: Sermon of Pope St Leo

Nocturn III: Homily of St Gregory the Great

Gospel: Luke 3:1-6

Monastic Diurnal (MD): MD 45* ff; at Vespers O Rex gentium MD 36*

Antiphonale Monasticum (AM): AM 226 ff; O Antiphon, AM211

Monday 23 December – Monday in the fourth week of Advent, Class II

Matins readings: Is 41:8-16

MD: Antiphons from MD 37*; Ordinary of Advent; Benedictus antiphon (Ecce completa) MD 45*; O Emmanuel, MD 36*

AM: Antiphons AM 212; Benedictus antiphon AM 220; O antiphon, AM 211

Tuesday 24 December - Vigil of the Nativity, Class I

Matins readings: Nocturn I: Homily of St Jerome; Nocturn II: Romans 1:4

MD: Antiphons and proper texts, MD 54* ff

AM: AM 232

CHRISTMASTIDE

I Vespers of the Nativity of Our Lord, MD 58* ff ; AM 236ff

Wednesday 25 December – The Nativity of Our Lord, Class I with a Second Class Octave

Matins readings: Isaiah 9:1-6, 40:1-8; 52:1-6; Sermon  21 of St Leo; Homilies of St Jerome, St Gregory, St Ambrose and St Augustine; Gospel: Mt 1:1-16

 MD 61* ff; AM 240 ff

Thursday 26 December – St Stephen, Protomartyr, Class II

Matins readings: Acts 6:1-10 & 7:54-60; Sermon of St Fulgentius; Homily of St Jerome; Mt 23:34-39

MD 83* ff; AM 250 ff

Friday 27 December – St John the Evangelist, Class II

Matins readings: I John 1:1-10, 2:1-5; St Jerome on Ecclesiastical writers and commentary on Galatians; Homily of St Augustine; John 21:19-24

MD 90* ff; AM 255ff

 Saturday 28 December - Holy Innocents, Class II

Matins readings: Jeremiah 31:15-23; Sermon of St Caesarii; Homily of St Jerome; Mt 2:15-18

MD 97* ff; AM 260 ff

Sunday 29 December – Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity, Class II [in some places, St Thomas Beckett, Class I]

Matins readings: Romans 1:1-19; Sermon of St Leo; Homily of St Ambrose; Luke 2:33-40

MD 77* ff; AM 265 ff

Feast of St Thomas

Today is the feast of the apostle Thomas.

The readings at Matins are:

Nocturn I: Common of Apostles (I Corinthians 4:1-15)
Nocturn II: on the life of the saint (see below) and sermon of St Gregory
Nocturn III: Homily of St Gregory (also at Divinum Officium)
Gospel: John 20: 24-29

On the life of St Thomas:

(Reading 5): The Apostle Thomas, called Didymus, or the Twin, was a Galilean. After the descent of the Holy Ghost, he went into many provinces to preach Christ's Gospel. He gave knowledge of the rules of Christian faith and life to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, and Bactrians. He went last to the East Indies. Here he provoked the anger of one of the idolatrous kings, because the holiness of his life and teaching, and the number of his miracles, drew many after him, and brought them to the love of Christ Jesus. He was therefore condemned, and slain with lances. He crowned the dignity of the Apostleship with the glory of martyrdom, on the Coromandel coast, not far from Madras.

Ember Friday of Advent (December 20)

Today's Gospel is St Luke 1: 39-47.  Here are the Matins readings, by St Ambrose (from Divinum Officium), on it:

Reading 1: When any one asketh another for credence, he is bound to give some reasonable ground. And so the Angel, when he announced to Mary the counsel of God, gave, as a proof, the conception of Elizabeth, then aged and barren, that Mary might perceive, by this example, that with God nothing is impossible. When the holy Virgin had heard it, she arose and went to visit her cousin. She did not go to see if what she had heard was true, because she did not believe God, or because she knew not who the messenger had been, or yet because she doubted the fact adduced in proof. She went joyfully as one who hath received a mercy in answer to his vow goeth to pay the same. She went with devotion, as a godly person goeth to execute a religious duty. She went into the hill country in joyful haste. And is it not something that she went up into the hills? God was already in her womb, and her feeling bore her continually upward. The grace of the Holy Spirit knoweth no slow working.

Reading 2: Godly women will learn from the example of the Mother of God to take a tender care of their kinswomen who are with child. In pursuance of this charity, Mary, who had hitherto remained alone at home, was not deterred by her maidenly shyness from entering on a public journey; she faced for this end the hardships of mountain travelling; and encountered with a sense of duty the weary length of the way. The Virgin left her home, and went into the hill country with haste, unmindful of the trouble, and remembering only the office to which her cousinly love prompted her, in spite of the delicacy of her sex. Maidens will learn from her not to idle about from house to house, to loiter in the streets, nor to take part in conversations in public. Mary, as she was hasteful to pass through the public roads, so was she slow again to enter on them she abode with her cousin about three months.

Reading 3: As the modesty of Mary is a pattern for the imitation of all maidens, so also is her humility. She went to see Elizabeth, like one cousin going to visit another, and as the younger to the elder. Not only did she first go, but she first saluted Elizabeth. Now, the purer a virgin is, the humbler ought she to be. She will know how to submit herself to her elders. She that professeth chastity ought to be a very mistress of humility. Lowly-mindedness is at once the very ground in which devotion groweth, and the first and principal rule of its teaching. In this act of the Virgin then we see the greater going to visit and to succour the lesser Mary to Elizabeth, Christ to John.

Ember Wednesday of Advent (December 18)

Today is Ember Wednesday of Advent, and today in the Office at Matins the readings are a homily of St Ambrose on the Gospel of the day, St Luke 1:26-38 (translation from Divinum Officium):

Reading 1: The mysteries of God are unsearchable, and it is especially declared by a Prophet, that a man can hardly know His counsels. Wisd. ix. 13. Nevertheless, some things have been revealed to us, and we may gather from some of the words and works of the Lord our Saviour, that there was a special purpose of God, in the fact that she who was chosen to be the mother of the Lord was espoused to a man. Why did not the power of the Highest overshadow her before she was so espoused? Perhaps it was lest any might blasphemously say that she had conceived in adultery the Holy One.

Reading 2: And the Angel came in unto her. Let us learn from this Virgin how to bear ourselves, let us learn her modesty, let us learn by her devout utterance, above all let us learn by the holy mystery enacted. It is the part of a maiden to be timid, to avoid the advances of men, and to shrink from men's addresses. Would that our women would learn from the example of modesty here set before us. She upon whom the stare of men had never been fixed was alone in her chamber, and she found herself alone with Angels. There was neither companion nor witness there, that what passed might not be debased in gossip and the Angel saluted her.

Reading 3: The message of God to the Virgin was a mystery, which it was not lawful for the mouth of men, but only of Angels, to utter. For the first time on earth the words are spoken The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. The holy maiden heareth, and believeth. At length she said Behold the handmaid of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word. Here is an example of lowliness, here is a pattern of true devotion. At the very moment that she is told she is chosen to be the mother of the Lord she at once declareth herself His handmaid. The knowledge that she was mother of God caused in the heart of Mary only an act of humility.

Lectio notes on John 21: 20-25

The final section of St John's Gospel is an autobiographical note on the 'beloved disciple' (St John himself).

The New Advent page can be found here.  The Latin is:

20 Conversus Petrus vidit illum discipulum, quem diligebat Jesus, sequentem, qui et recubuit in cœna super pectus ejus, et dixit: Domine, quis est qui tradet te? 21 Hunc ergo cum vidisset Petrus, dixit Jesu: Domine, hic autem quid? 22 Dicit ei Jesus: Sic eum volo manere donec veniam, quid ad te? tu me sequere. 23 Exiit ergo sermo iste inter fratres quia discipulus ille non moritur. Et non dixit ei Jesus: Non moritur, sed: Sic eum volo manere donec veniam, quid ad te? 24 Hic est discipulus ille qui testimonium perhibet de his, et scripsit hæc: et scimus quia verum est testimonium ejus. 25 Sunt autem et alia multa quæ fecit Jesus: quæ si scribantur per singula, nec ipsum arbitror mundum capere posse eos, qui scribendi sunt, libros.

Douay-Rheims:

Peter turning about, saw that disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned on his breast at supper, and said: Lord, who is he that shall betray thee?[21] Him therefore when Peter had seen, he saith to Jesus: Lord, and what shall this man do? [22] Jesus saith to him: So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to thee? follow thou me. [23] This saying therefore went abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. And Jesus did not say to him: He should not die; but, So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to thee? [24] This is that disciple who giveth testimony of these things, and hath written these things; and we know that his testimony is true. [25] But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written.

Commentary

Catena Aurea on the beloved disciple:

AUG. He calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved, because Jesus had a greater and more familiar love for him, than for the rest; so that He made him lie on His breast at supper. In this way John the more commends the divine excellency of that Gospel which he preached.

Some think, and they no contemptible commentators upon Scripture, that the reason why John was loved more than the rest, was, because he had lived in perfect chastity from his youth up. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not to him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you?

THEOPHYL. i.e. Shall he not die?

AUG. Jesus says to him, What is that to you? and He then repeats, Follow you Me, as if John would not follow Him, because he wished to remain till He came; Then went this saying abroad among the disciples, that disciple should not die. Was it not a natural inference of the disciple's? But John himself does awes With such a notion: Yet Jesus said not to him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you? But if any so will, let him contradict, and say that what John says is true, viz. that our Lord did not say that that disciple should not die, but that nevertheless this was signified by using such words as John records.

THEOPHYL. Or let him say, Christ did not deny that John was to die, for whatever is born cries; but said, I will that he tarry till I come, i.e. to live to the end of the world, and then he shall suffer martyrdom for Me. And therefore they confess that he still lives, but will be killed by Antichrist, and will preach Christ's name with Elias. But if his sepulcher be objected, then they say that he entered in alive, and went out of it afterwards.

AUG. Or perhaps he will allow that John still lies in his sepulcher at Ephesus, but asleep, not dead; and will give us a proof, that the soil over his grave is moist and watery, owing to his respiration. But why should our Lord grant it as a great privilege to the disciple whom He loved, that he should sleep this long time in the body, when he released Peter from the burden of the flesh by a glorious martyrdom, and gave him what Paul had longed for, when he said, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ? If there really takes place at John's grave that which report says, it is either done to commend his precious death, since that had not martyrdom to commend it, or for some other cause not known to us. Yet the question remains, Why did our Lord say of one who was about to die, I will that he tarry till I come? It may be asked too why our Lord loved John the most, when Peter loved our Lord the most? I might easily reply, that the one who loved Christ the more, was the better man, and the one whom Christ loved the more, the more blessed; only this would not be a defense of our Lord's justice. This important question then I will endeavor to answer. The Church acknowledges two modes of life, as divinely revealed, that by faith, and that by sight. The one is represented by the Apostle Peter, in respect of the primacy of his Apostleship; the other by John: wherefore to the one it is said, Follow Me, i.e. imitate Me in enduring temporal sufferings; of the other it is said, I will that he tarry till I come: as if to say, Do you follow Me, by the endurance of temporal sufferings, let him remain till I come to give everlasting bliss; or to open out the meaning more, Let action be perfected by following the example of My Passion, but let contemplation wait inchoate till at My coming it be completed: wait, not simply remain, continue, but wait for its completion at Christ's coming. Now in this life of action it is true, the more we love Christ, the more we are freed from sin; but He does not love us as we are, He frees us from sin, that we may not always remain as we are, but He loves us heretofore rather, because hereafter we shall not have that which displeases Him, and which He frees us from. So then let Peter love Him, that we may be freed from this mortality; let John be loved by Him, that we may be preserved in that immortality. John loved less than Peter, because, as he represented that life in which we are much more loved, our Lord said, I will that he remain (i.e. wait) till I come; seeing that that greater love we have not yet, but wait till we have it at His coming. And this intermediate state is represented by Peter who loves, but is loved less, for Christ loves us in our misery less than in our blessedness: and we again love the contemplation of truth such as it will be then, less in our present state, because as yet we neither know nor have it. But let none separate those illustrious Apostles; that which Peter represented, and that which John represented, both were sometime to be.

 Eyewitness testimony:

CHRYS. John appeals to his own knowledge of these events, having been witness of them: This is the disciple which testifies of these things. When we assert any undoubted fact in common life, we do not withhold our testimony: much less would he, who wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. And thus the other Apostles, And we are witnesses of these things, and wrote these things. John is only one who appeals to his own testimony; and he does so, because he was the last who wrote. And for this reason he often mentions Christ's love for him, i.e. to show the motive which led him to write, and to give weight to his history. And we know that his testimony is true. He was present at every event, even at the crucifixion, when our Lord committed His mother to him; circumstances which both show Christ's love, and his own importance as a witness. 

There is more to the tradition than contained in Scripture:

CHRYS: But if any believe not, let him consider what follows:

And there are also many other things which Jesus did. If, when there were so many things to relate, I have not said so much as the other, and have selected often reproaches and contumelies in preference to other things, it is evident that I have not written partially. One who wants to show another off to advantage does the very contrary, omits the dishonorable parts.

AUG. The which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should, be written; meaning not the world had not space for them, but that the capacity of readers was not large enough to hold them: though sometimes words themselves may exceed the truth, and yet the thing they express be true; a mode of speech which is used not to explain an obscure and doubtful, but to magnify or estimate a plain, thing: nor does it involve any departure from the path of truth; inasmuch as the excess of the word over the truth is evidently only a figure of speech, and not a deception. This way of speaking the Greeks call hyperbole, and it is found in other parts of Scripture.

CHRYS. This is said to show the power of Him Who did the miracles; i. e that it was as easy for Him to do them, as it is for us to speak of them, seeing He is God over all, blessed for ever.

And that concludes this series of lectio notes on the Gospel of St John.  I hope that it has stimulated you to do more lectio divina; that the notes proved helpful, and your reading proved fruitful!  

John 21:12-19

Raphael

Today's section of St John's Gospel continues on from the story of the miraculous catch of fish, and includes the important 'commissioning' of St Peter.

Text

The New Advent page can be found here.

2 Dicit eis Jesus: Venite, prandete. Et nemo audebat discumbentium interrogare eum: Tu quis es? scientes, quia Dominus est. 13 Et venit Jesus, et accipit panem, et dat eis, et piscem similiter. 14 Hoc jam tertio manifestatus est Jesus discipulis suis cum resurrexisset a mortuis.15 Cum ergo prandissent, dicit Simoni Petro Jesus: Simon Joannis, diligis me plus his? Dicit ei: Etiam Domine, tu scis quia amo te. Dicit ei: Pasce agnos meos. 16 Dicit ei iterum: Simon Joannis, diligis me? Ait illi: Etiam Domine, tu scis quia amo te. Dicit ei: Pasce agnos meos. 17 Dicit ei tertio: Simon Joannis, amas me? Contristatus est Petrus, quia dixit ei tertio: Amas me? et dixit ei: Domine, tu omnia nosti, tu scis quia amo te. Dixit ei: Pasce oves meas. 18 Amen, amen dico tibi: cum esses junior, cingebas te, et ambulabas ubi volebas: cum autem senueris, extendes manus tuas, et alius te cinget, et ducet quo tu non vis. 19 Hoc autem dixit significans qua morte clarificaturus esset Deum. Et cum hoc dixisset, dicit ei: Sequere me.

From the Douay-Rheims:

[12] Jesus saith to them: Come, and dine. And none of them who were at meat, durst ask him: Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. [13] And Jesus cometh and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish in like manner. [14] This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to his disciples, after he was risen from the dead. [15] When therefore they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter: Simon son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him: Feed my lambs.[16] He saith to him again: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him: Feed my lambs. [17] He said to him the third time: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he had said to him the third time: Lovest thou me? And he said to him: Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee. He said to him: Feed my sheep. [18] Amen, amen I say to thee, when thou wast younger, thou didst gird thyself, and didst walk where thou wouldst. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldst not. [19] And this he said, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had said this, he saith to him: Follow me.

Commentary

The Catena Aurea anthology on the reasons for Jesus' questioning of Peter:

THEOPHYL. The dinner being ended, He commits to Peter the superintendence over the sheep of the world, not to the others: So when they had dined, Jesus says to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, Do love you Me more than these do?

AUG. Our Lord asked this, knowing it: He knew that Peter not only loved Him, but loved Him more than all the rest.

ALCUIN. He is called Simon, son of John, John being his natural father. But mystically, Simon is obedience, John grace, a name well befitting him who was so obedient to God's grace, that he loved our Lord more ardently than any of the others. Such virtue arising from divine gift, not mere human will.

AUG. While our Lord was being condemned to death, he feared, and denied Him. But by His resurrection Christ implanted love in his heart, and drove away fear. Peter denied, because he feared to die: but when our Lord was risen from the dead, and by His death destroyed death, what should he fear? He says to Him, Yea, Lord; you know that 1 love You. On this confession of his love, our Lord commends His sheep to him: He says to him, Feed My lambs. as if there were no way of Peter's showing his love for Him, but by being a faithful shepherd, under the chief Shepherd.

CHRYS. That which most of all attracts the Divine love is care and love for our neighbor. Our Lord passing by the rest, addresses this command to Peter: he being the chief of the Apostles, the mouth of the disciples, and head of the college. Our Lord remembers no more his sin in denying Him, or brings that as a charge against him, but commits to him at once the superintendence over his brethren. If you love Me, have rule over your brethren, show forth that love which you have evidenced throughout, and that life which you said you would lay down for Me, lay down for the sheep.

 He says to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, love you Me? He says to Him, Yea, Lord; you know that I love You. Well does He say to Peter, Love you Me, and Peter answer, Amo Te, and our Lord replies again, Feed My lambs. Whereby, it appears that amor and dilectio are the same thing: especially as our Lord the third time He speaks does not say, Diligis Me, but Amas Me.

He says to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, love you Me? A third time our Lord asks Peter whether he loves Him. Three confessions are made to answer to the three denials; that the tongue might show as much love as it had fear, and life gained draw out the voice as much as death threatened.

CHRYS. A third time He asks the same question, and gives the same command; to show of what importance He esteems the superintendence of His own sheep, and how He regards it as the greatest proof of love to Him.

THEOPHYL. Thence is taken the custom of threefold confession in baptism.

CHRYS. The question asked for the third time disturbed him: Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, Love you Me? He was afraid perhaps of receiving a reproof again for professing to love more than he did. So he appeals to Christ Himself: And he said to Him, Lord, you know all things, i.e. the secrets of the heart, present and to come.

AUG. He was grieved because he was asked so often by Him Who knew what He asked, and gave the answer. He replies therefore from his inmost heart; you know that I love You.

AUG. He says no more, He only replies what he knew himself; he knew he loved Him; whether any else loved Him he could not tell, as he could not see into another's heart: Jesus says to him, Feed My sheep; as if to say, Be it the office of love to feed the Lord's flock, as it was the resolution of fear to deny the Shepherd.

The nature of the commission:

THEOPHYL. There is a difference perhaps between lambs and sheep. The lambs are those just initiated, the sheep are the perfected.

ALCUIN. To feed the sheep is to support the believers in Christ from falling from the faith, to provide earthly sustenance for those under us, to preach and exemplify withal our preaching by our lives, to resist adversaries, to correct wanderers.

AUG. They who feed Christ's sheep, as if they were their own, not Christ's, show plainly that they love themselves, not Christ; that they are moved by lust of glory, power, gain, not by the love of obeying, ministering, pleasing God. Let us love therefore, not ourselves, but Him, and in feeding His sheep, seek not our own, but the things which are His. For whoso loves himself, not God, loves not himself: man that cannot live of himself, must die by loving himself; and he cannot love himself, who loves himself to his own destruction. Whereas when He by Whom we live is loved, we love ourselves the more, because we do not love ourselves; because we do not love ourselves in order that we may love Him by Whom we live

AUG. But unfaithful servants arose, who divided Christ's flock, and handed down the division to their successors: and you hear them say, Those sheep are mine, what seek you with my sheep, I will not let you come to my sheep. If we call our sheep ours, as they call them theirs, Christ has lost His sheep.

On St Peter's future martyrdom:

CHRYS. Our Lord having made Peter declare his love, informs him of his future martyrdom; an intimation to us how we should love: Verily, verily, I say to you, When you were young, you girded yourself, and walked where you would. He reminds him of his former life, because, whereas in worldly matters a young man has powers, an old man none; in spiritual things, on the contrary, virtue is brighter, manliness stronger, in old age; age is no hindrance to grace. Peter had all along desired to share Christ's dangers; so Christ tells him, Be of good cheer; I will fulfill your desire in such a way, that what you has not suffered when young, you shall suffer when old: But when you are old. Whence it appears, that he was then neither a young nor an old man, but in the prime of life.

ORIGEN. It is not easy to find any ready to pass at once from this life; and so he says to Peter, When you are old, you shall stretch forth your hand.

AUG. That is, shall be crucified. And to come to this end, Another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not. First He said what would come to pass, secondly, how it would come to pass. For it was not when crucified, but when about to be crucified, that he was led where he would not. He wished to be released from the body, and be with Christ; but, if it were possible, he wished to attain to eternal life without the pains of death; to which he went against his will, but conquered by the force of his will, and triumphing over the human feeling, so natural a one, that even old age could not deprive Peter of it. But whatever be the pain of death, it ought to be conquered by the strength of love for Him, Who being our life, voluntarily also underwent death for us. For if there is no pain in death, or very little, the glory of martyrdom would not be great.

CHRYS. He says, Where you would not, with reference to the natural reluctance of the soul to be separated from the body; an instinct implanted by God to prevent men putting an end to themselves.

Then raising the subject, the Evangelist says, This spoke He, signifying by what death he should glorify God: not, should die: he expresses himself so, to intimate that to suffer for Christ was the glory of the sufferer. But unless the mind is persuaded that He is very God, the sight of Him can in no way enable us to endure death. Wherefore the death of the saints is certainty of divine glory.

AUG. He who denied and loved, died in perfect love for Him, for Whom he had promised to die with wrong haste. It was necessary that Christ should first die for Peter's salvation, and then Peter die for Christ's Gospel.