Saturday 11 December 2021
Saturday of the 2nd week of Advent
or Saint Damasus I, Pope
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.
________
Hymn
The Advent of our God
With eager prayers we greet
And singing haste upon the road
His glorious gift to meet.
The everlasting Son
Scorns not a Virgin’s womb;
That we from bondage may be won
He bears a bondsman’s doom.
Daughter of Zion, rise
To meet thy lowly King;
Let not thy stubborn heart despise
The peace he deigns to bring.
In clouds of awful light,
As Judge he comes again,
His scattered people to unite,
With them in heaven to reign.
Let evil flee away
Ere that dread hour shall dawn.
Let this old Adam day by day
God’s image still put on.
Praise to the Incarnate Son,
Who comes to set us free,
With God the Father, ever One,
To all eternity.
________
Psalm 105 (106):1-18
The Lord's goodness and his people's infidelity
“These things were written down to be a lesson for us who are living at the end of the age” (1 Cor 10:11).
O Lord, remember us: come to us with your help.
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
for his love endures for ever.
Who can tell the Lord’s mighty deeds?
Who can recount all his praise?
They are happy who do what is right,
who at all times do what is just.
O Lord, remember me
out of the love you have for your people.
Come to me, Lord, with your help
that I may see the joy of your chosen ones
and may rejoice in the gladness of your nation
and share the glory of your people.
Our sin is the sin of our fathers;
we have done wrong, our deeds have been evil.
Our fathers when they were in Egypt
paid no heed to your wonderful deeds.
They forgot the greatness of your love,
at the Red Sea defied the Most High.
Yet he saved them for the sake of his name,
in order to make known his power.
He threatened the Red Sea; it dried up
and he led them through the deep as through the desert.
He saved them from the hand of the foe;
he saved them from the grip of the enemy.
The waters covered their oppressors;
not one of them was left alive.
Then they believed in his words:
then they sang his praises.
But they soon forgot his deeds
and would not wait upon his will.
They yielded to their cravings in the desert
and put God to the test in the wilderness.
He granted them the favour they asked
and sent disease among them.
Then they rebelled, envious of Moses
and of Aaron, who was holy to the Lord.
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan
and buried the clan of Abiram.
Fire blazed up against their clan
and flames devoured the rebels.
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.
O Lord, remember us: come to us with your help.
________
Psalm 105 (106):19-33
Take care you do not forget the covenant the Lord your God has made with you.
They fashioned a calf at Horeb
and worshipped an image of metal,
exchanging the God who was their glory
for the image of a bull that eats grass.
They forgot the God who was their saviour,
who had done such great things in Egypt,
such portents in the land of Ham,
such marvels at the Red Sea.
For this he said he would destroy them,
but Moses, the man he had chosen,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn back his anger from destruction.
Then they scorned the land of promise:
they had no faith in his word.
They complained inside their tents
and would not listen to the voice of the Lord.
So he raised his hand to swear an oath
that he would lay them low in the desert;
would scatter their sons among the nations
and disperse them throughout the lands.
They bowed before the Baal of Peor;
ate offerings made to lifeless gods.
They roused him to anger with their deeds
and a plague broke out among them.
Then Phinehas stood up and intervened.
Thus the plague was ended
and this was counted in his favour
from age to age for ever.
They provoked him at the waters of Meribah.
Through their fault it went ill with Moses;
for they made his heart grow bitter
and he uttered words that were rash.
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.
Take care you do not forget the covenant the Lord your God has made with you.
________
Psalm 105 (106):34-48
O Lord, save us; gather us from among the nations.
They failed to destroy the peoples
as the Lord had given command,
but instead they mingled with the nations
and learned to act as they did.
They worshipped the idols of the nations
and these became a snare to entrap them.
They even offered their own sons
and their daughters in sacrifice to demons.
They shed the blood of the innocent,
the blood of their sons and daughters
whom they offered to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted with blood.
So they defiled themselves by their deeds
and broke their marriage bond with the Lord
till his anger blazed against his people;
he was filled with horror at his chosen ones.
So he gave them into the hand of the nations
and their foes became their rulers.
Their enemies became their oppressors;
they were subdued beneath their hand.
Time after time he rescued them,
but in their malice they dared to defy him
and sank low through their guilt.
In spite of this he paid heed to their distress,
so often as he heard their cry.
For their sake he remembered his covenant.
In the greatness of his love he relented
and he let them be treated with mercy
by all who held them captive.
O Lord, our God, save us!
Bring us together from among the nations
that we may thank your holy name
and make it our glory to praise you.
Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel,
for ever, from age to age.
Let all the people cry out:
‘Amen! Amen! Alleluia!’
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.
O Lord, save us; gather us from among the nations.
Psalm-prayer
God, our Creator, how wonderfully you made man. You transformed dust into your own image, and gave it a share in your own nature; yet you are more wonderful in pardoning the man who has rebelled against you. Grant that where sin has abounded, grace may more abound, so that we can become holier through forgiveness and be more grateful to you.
________
℣. The Lord makes his word known to Jacob,
℟. To Israel his laws and decrees.
________
The one-year and two-year cycles of readings are identical today.
First Reading
Isaiah 29:1-8
God’s judgement on Jerusalem
Woe, Ariel, Ariel,
city where David encamped.
Let a year or two pass,
let the feasts make their full round
then I will lay siege to Ariel,
and there will be moaning and bemoaning.
You will be an Ariel for me,
like David I will encamp against you,
I will blockade you with palisades,
and mount siege-works against you.
Thrown down – you will speak from the ground,
your words will come muffled by dust.
Your voice will rise from the earth like a ghost’s,
you will speak from the dust in a whisper.
Suddenly, unexpectedly,
you will be visited by the Lord of Hosts
with thunder, earthquake, mighty din,
hurricane, tempest, flame of devouring fire.
The horde of your enemies shall be scattered like fine dust,
the tyrant horde like flying chaff;
the horde of all the nations at war with Ariel
shall vanish like a dream, like a vision at night.
And all those fighting against her,
the entrenchments besieging her,
shall be like the hungry man who dreams he eats,
and wakes with an empty belly,
like the thirsty man who dreams he drinks
and wakes exhausted, his throat parched;
so shall it be with the horde of all the nations
making war on Mount Zion.
Responsory
Is 54:4, 29:5-6
℟. Fear not, Jerusalem, for you will not be put to shame* when you will be visited by the Lord of hosts.
℣. The multitude of all the nations that fight against you shall be like flying chaff,* when you will be visited by the Lord of hosts.
________
Second Reading
From a sermon by Blessed Isaac of Stella, abbot
Mary and the Church
The Son of God is the first-born of many brothers. Although by nature he is the only-begotten, by grace he has joined many to himself and made them one with him. For to those who receive him he has given the power to become the sons of God.
He became the Son of man and made many men sons of God, uniting them to himself by his love and power, so that they became as one. In themselves they are many by reason of their human descent, but in him they are one by divine rebirth.
The whole Christ and the unique Christ – the body and the head – are one: one because born of the same God in heaven, and of the same mother on earth. They are many sons, yet one son. Head and members are one son, yet many sons; in the same way, Mary and the Church are one mother, yet more than one mother; one virgin, yet more than one virgin.
Both are mothers, both are virgins. Each conceives of the same Spirit, without concupiscence. Each gives birth to a child of God the Father, without sin. Without any sin, Mary gave birth to Christ the head for the sake of his body. By the forgiveness of every sin, the Church gave birth to the body, for the sake of its head. Each is Christ’s mother, but neither gives birth to the whole Christ without the cooperation of the other.
In the inspired Scriptures, what is said in a universal sense of the virgin mother, the Church, is understood in an individual sense of the Virgin Mary, and what is said in a particular sense of the virgin mother Mary is rightly understood in a general sense of the virgin mother, the Church. When either is spoken of, the meaning can be understood of both, almost without qualification.
In a way, every Christian is also believed to be a bride of God’s Word, a mother of Christ, his daughter and sister, at once virginal and fruitful. These words are used in a universal sense of the Church, in a special sense of Mary, in a particular sense of the individual Christian. They are used by God’s Wisdom in person, the Word of the Father.
This is why Scripture says: I will dwell in the inheritance of the Lord. The Lord’s inheritance is, in a general sense, the Church; in a special sense, Mary; in an individual sense, the Christian.
Christ dwelt for nine months in the tabernacle of Mary’s womb. He dwells until the end of the ages in the tabernacle of the Church’s faith. He will dwell for ever in the knowledge and love of each faithful soul.
Responsory
℟. I will set up my dwelling among you, and I will not cast you off.* I will live in your midst; I will be your God and you shall be my people.
℣. You are the temple of the living God, as God himself has said:* I will live in your midst; I will be your God and you shall be my people.
________
Let us pray.
Almighty God,
let the splendour of your glory dawn in our hearts.
May the coming of your only Son dispel all darkness
and reveal that we are children of light.
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.
________
Let us praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
Copyright © 1996-2021 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.