Saturday 8 January 2022
Saturday after Epiphany Sunday
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Saturday after Epiphany Sunday
A sermon by Faustus of Riez
The marriage of Christ and the Church
On the third day there was a wedding. What wedding can this be but the joyful marriage of man’s salvation, a marriage celebrated by confessing the Trinity or by faith in the resurrection. That is why the marriage took place “on the third day,” a reference to the sacred mysteries which this number symbolises.
Hence, too, we read elsewhere in the Gospel that the return of the younger son, that is, the conversion of the pagans, is marked by song, and music and wedding garments.
Like a bridegroom coming from his marriage chamber our God descended to earth in his incarnation, in order to be united to his Church which was to be formed of the pagan nations. To her he gave a pledge and a dowry: a pledge when God was united to man; a dowry when he was sacrificed for man’s salvation. The pledge is our present redemption; the dowry, eternal life.
To those who see only with the outward eye, all these events at Cana are strange and wonderful; to those who understand, they are also signs. For, if we look closely, the very water tells us of our rebirth in baptism. One thing is turned into another from within, and in a hidden way a lesser creature is changed into a greater. All this points to the hidden reality of our second birth. There water was suddenly changed; later it will cause a change in man.
By Christ’s action in Galilee, then, wine is made, that is, the law withdraws and grace takes its place; the shadows fade and truth becomes present; fleshly realities are coupled with spiritual, and the old covenant with its outward discipline is transformed into the new. For, as the Apostle says: The old order has passed away; now all is new! The water in the jars is not less than it was before, but now begins to be what it had not been; so too the law is not destroyed by Christ’s coming, but is made better than it was.
When the wine fails, new wine is served: the wine of the old covenant was good, but the wine of the new is better. The old covenant, which Jews follow, is exhausted by its letter; the new covenant, which belongs to us, has the savour of life and is filled with grace.
The good wine, that is, good precepts, refers to the law; thus we read: You shall love your neighbour but hate your enemy. But the Gospel is a better and a stronger wine: My command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors.
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In other parts of the world and other calendars:
Saint Peter Thomas, Bishop
From 'The Life of St Peter Thomas' by his secretary Philip of Mézières
The patriarch's last days on earth
As the feast of Christmas drew near, my father presided in person at the divine services. In the middle of the night which ushered in the feast he made his way from the Carmelite monastery where he was staying to the cathedral of Famagosta for the solemn celebration of Matins. He celebrated with full solemnity the three Masses of Christmas, but was affected by the cold and caught an infection in the throat, for he was weakened by fasting and vigils and wore only light clothing, following the example of the holy fathers of the desert.
During the following days he offered Mass daily but was evidently trying to conceal his illness. On the Tuesday the fever became critical. He made a general and particular confession, and spoke affectionately with his household. Then turning to the cross he adored and kissed it, and with joined hands fervently asked forgiveness of all his confreres, a gesture which moved them to tears. “My brothers and friends,” he said, “what toils and dangers you have met with in my service – hunger and thirst, cold and unexpected trials. I have never given you the recognition or the recompense you deserve, and yet you were kind enough to bear with me and my shortcomings. How often for me you faced real risk of your lives! How can I repay you? Forgive me; I beg you to forgive me.”
Then he asked that the sacred Body of the Lord be brought to him, and he received communion with reverence and unfeigned faith. At the end of that day, at the sixth hour of the night, he asked that the bishop of Laodicea, who was vicar of the diocese of Famagosta, should come in his pontifical vestments accompanied by the clergy of the cathedral to anoint him with the oil of the sick. Meanwhile he summoned his own household and put on the symbols of his episcopal office. Despite his weakness he sought out the office of anointing with his own hand and, having found the right place, followed attentively the preliminary prayers. After this he lay down on some sackcloth spread on the ground and waited calmly for the arrival of the bishop.
When they heard the bishop coming with all his clergy he began to recite the penitential psalms in a loud clear voice suggestive of a man in full health: “Lord, rebuke me not in your anger.” With those around him making the responses he continued till about half way through the seven psalms. At last, however, his strength gave out, though his mind remained clear, and he signalled to his vicar-bishop to join in and support him, and thus the whole seven psalms were completed. As the vicar anointed him with the holy oil he managed to make all the responses of the ritual, striving to keep from the eyes of others the threadbare tunic and scapular he always wore.
When the anointing was finished, my father devoutly recited the Confiteor and received absolution from the bishop. He humbly asked forgiveness of him, his household and all the assisting clergy if he had in any way offended them in the exercise of his office; and at the same time he requested them to ask on his behalf the same pardon of all the inhabitants of Cyprus and elsewhere. Finally, he gave up his soul to the God who made him. It was the sixth day of January in the year of our salvation thirteen hundred and sixty-six.
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.