Wednesday 9 September 2020
Saint Peter Claver
on Wednesday of week 23 in Ordinary Time
Office of Readings
Introduction (without Invitatory)
If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, use the version with the Invitatory Psalm instead.
O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
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.
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Hymn
Bright as fire in darkness,
Sharper than a sword,
Lives throughout the ages
God’s eternal word.
Father, Son and Spirit,
Trinity of might,
Compassed in your glory,
Give the world your light.
Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal
________
Psalm 88 (89)
The Lord's kindness to the house of David
“God has raised up one from the house of David, as he promised: Jesus the Saviour” (Acts 13:22,23).
Love and truth walk in your presence, Lord.
I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth.
Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever,
that your truth is firmly established as the heavens.
‘With my chosen one I have made a covenant;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever
and set up your throne through all ages.’
The heavens proclaim your wonders, O Lord;
the assembly of your holy ones proclaims your truth.
For who in the skies can compare with the Lord
or who is like the Lord among the sons of God?
A God to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
great and dreadful to all around him.
O Lord God of hosts, who is your equal?
You are mighty, O Lord, and truth is your garment.
It is you who rule the sea in its pride;
it is you who still the surging of its waves.
It is you who trod Rahab underfoot like a corpse,
scattering your foes with your mighty arm.
The heavens are yours, the world is yours.
It is you who founded the earth and all it holds;
it is you who created the North and the South.
Tabor and Hermon shout with joy at your name.
Yours is a mighty arm, O Lord;
your hand is strong, your right hand ready.
Justice and right are the pillars of your throne,
love and truth walk in your presence.
Happy the people who acclaim such a king,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,
who find their joy every day in your name,
who make your justice the source of their bliss.
For you, O Lord, are the glory of their strength;
by your favour it is that our might is exalted;
for our ruler is in the keeping of the Lord;
our king in the keeping of the Holy One of Israel.
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.
Love and truth walk in your presence, Lord.
________
Psalm 88 (89)
The Son of God was born into the house of David when he came into this world.
Of old you spoke in a vision.
To your friends the prophets you said:
‘I have set the crown on a warrior,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
‘I have found David my servant
and with my holy oil anointed him.
My hand shall always be with him
and my arm shall make him strong.
‘The enemy shall never outwit him
nor the evil man oppress him.
I will beat down his foes before him
and smite those who hate him.
‘My truth and my love shall be with him;
by my name his might shall be exalted.
I will stretch out his hand to the Sea
and his right hand as far as the River.
‘He will say to me: “You are my father,
my God, the rock who saves me.”
And I will make him my first-born,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
‘I will keep my love for him always;
with him my covenant shall last.
I will establish his dynasty for ever,
make his throne endure as the heavens.’
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.
The Son of God was born into the house of David when he came into this world.
________
Psalm 88 (89)
Once for all, I have sworn to David my servant: his dynasty shall last for ever.
‘If his sons forsake my law
and refuse to walk as I decree
and if ever they violate my statutes,
refusing to keep my commands;
‘then I will punish their offences with the rod,
then I will scourge them on account of their guilt.
But I will never take back my love,
my truth will never fail.
‘I will never violate my covenant
nor go back on the word I have spoken.
Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness.
“I will never lie to David.
‘“His dynasty shall last for ever.
In my sight his throne is like the sun;
like the moon, it shall endure for ever,
a faithful witness in the skies.”’
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.
Once for all, I have sworn to David my servant: his dynasty shall last for ever.
Psalm-prayer
Lord, God of mercy and fidelity, you made a new and lasting pact with men and sealed it in the blood of your Son. Forgive the folly of our disloyalty and make us keep your commandments, so that in your new covenant we may be witnesses and heralds of your faithfulness and love on earth, and sharers of your glory in heaven.
________
℣. The Lord led the virtuous man along straight paths.
℟. He showed him the kingdom of God.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Habakkuk 2:5-20
Curses against oppressors
Wealth is indeed a treacherous thing.
Haughty and unable to rest is he
who is as greedy as Sheol,
who is like death, insatiable,
who assembles all the nations for his own ends,
collects all the peoples to his own advantage.
On him, will not all men make satires,
and turn an epigram against him?
They will say:
Trouble is coming to the man who amasses goods that are not his,
(for how long?)
and loads himself with pledges.
Will not your creditors suddenly rise,
will not your duns awake?
Then you will be their victim.
Since you have plundered many nations,
all that remains of the peoples will plunder you;
for you have shed men’s blood and ravished the country,
the city and all who live in it.
Trouble is coming to the man who grossly exploits others for the sake of his House,
to fix his nest on high
and so evade the hand of misfortune.
You have contrived to bring shame on your House;
by making an end of many peoples
you have worked your own ruin.
For the stone from the very walls cries out,
and the beam responds from the framework.
Trouble is coming to the man who builds a town with blood
and founds a city on crime.
Is it not the will of the Lord of Hosts
that the labouring of peoples should end in fire,
and the toiling of nations come to nothing?
For the country shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters swell the sea.
Trouble is coming to the man who makes his neighbours drink,
who pours his poison until they are drunk,
to look at their nakedness.
You are drunk with ignominy, not with glory.
Your turn now to drink and show your foreskin.
The cup from the Lord’s right hand comes round to you,
and disgrace will overshadow your glory.
For the violence done to Lebanon is going to overwhelm you,
so will the slaughter of terrified beasts,
for you have shed men’s blood and ravished the country,
the city and all who live in it.
Trouble is coming to the man who says to the piece of wood, ‘Wake up!’
to the dumb stone, ‘On your feet!’
(And that is the oracle.)
Plated it may be with gold and silver,
but not a breath of life inside it.
What is the use of a carved image, or for its maker to carve it at all?
It is a thing of metal, a lying oracle.
What is the use of its maker trusting this
and fashioning dumb idols?
But the Lord is in his holy Temple:
let the whole earth be silent before him.
Responsory
Rm 2:12, 3:23, 11:32
℟. Sinners who were not subject to the Law of Moses will also perish, even beyond its jurisdiction, and those who live under the Law will be judged by it,* for all alike have sinned and are deprived of the divine splendour.
℣. God has abandoned all men to their rebellion, only to include them all in his forgiveness,* for all alike have sinned and are deprived of the divine splendour.
________
Second Reading
A letter of St Peter Claver
The arrival of a slave ship
Yesterday, May 30, 1627, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, numerous blacks, brought from the rivers of Africa, disembarked from a large ship. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried towards them. When we approached their quarters, we thought we were entering another Guinea. We had to force our way through the crowd until we reached the sick. Large numbers of the sick were lying on wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tiles and broken pieces of bricks. This, then, was their couch, a very uncomfortable one not only for that reason, but especially because they were naked, without any clothing to protect them.
We laid aside our cloaks, therefore, and brought from a warehouse whatever was handy to build a platform. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. Then we divided the sick into two groups: one group my companion approached with an interpreter, while I addressed the other group. There were two blacks, nearer death than life, already cold, whose pulse could scarcely be detected. With the help of a tile we pulled some live coals together and placed them in the middle near the dying men. Into this fire we tossed aromatics. Of these we had two wallets full, and we used them all up on this occasion. Then, using our own cloaks, for they had nothing of this sort, and to ask the owners for others would have been a waste of words, we provided for them a smoke treatment, by which they seemed to recover their warmth and the breath of life. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see.
This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. And in fact, convinced as they were that they had been brought here to be eaten, any other language would have proved utterly useless. Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick.
After this we began an elementary instruction about baptism, that is, the wonderful effects of the sacrament on body and soul. When by their answers to our questions they showed that they had sufficiently understood this, we went on to a more extensive instruction, namely, about the one God, who rewards and punishes each one according to his merit, and the rest. We asked them to make an act of contrition and to manifest their detestation of their sins. Finally, when they appeared sufficiently prepared, we declared to them the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Passion. Showing them Christ fastened to the cross, as he is depicted on the baptismal font on which streams of blood flow down from his wounds, we led them in reciting an act of contrition in their own language.
Responsory
℟. I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was homeless and you took me in.* Now I tell you this: When you did these things for the most neglected of my brothers, you did them for me.
℣. This is what I command: Love one another as I have loved you.* Now I tell you this: When you did these things for the most neglected of my brothers, you did them for me.
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Let us pray.
God our Father, in Saint Peter Claver you gave a light to your faithful people.
You made him a pastor of the Church
to feed your sheep with his word
and to teach them by his example.
Help us by his prayers to keep the faith he taught
and follow the way of life he showed us.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
________
Let us praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
Copyright © 1996-2020 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are 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. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.