Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine)

Christ is asking two thing of us: to condemn our sins, to forgive those of the others; to do the first because of the second, which then will be easier, for the person who thinks of his sins will be less severe towards his companion in destitution. And to forgive not only with our mouth, but “from the bottom of our heart”, so as not to turn against ourselves the blade with which we believe we can pierce the others. What evil can your enemy do to you that would be comparable to that which you do to yourself? … If you let yourself go in indignation and anger, you will be wounded not because of the injury your enemy gave you, but from the resentment you feel because of it. So don’t say: “He insulted me, he slandered me, he did a great number of wretched things to me.” The more you say he did bad things to you, the more you show that he did you good, since he gave you an opportunity to purify yourself of your sins. Thus, the more he offends you, the more he places you in a state of obtaining the forgiveness of your faults from God. For if we want, nobody can damage us; even our enemies are thus doing us a great service… So consider how many advantages you draw from an injury that is suffered humbly and gently.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

The poor widow had gone out to look for two blocks of wood to bake some bread: it is at this time that Elijah meets her. This woman is the symbol of the Church; because a cross is made of two pieces of wood, the woman, who was destined to die, searches for something by which to live eternally. There is a hidden mystery in this (…) Elijah tells her: “Go, feed me first with your poverty, and you will not run out of your goods”. What a blessed poverty! If the widow received here on earth such retribution, what a reward may she hope to receive in the life to come! I insist on this point: let us not expect to harvest the fruit of our sowing now, at the time we sow. Here on earth, we sow with difficulty what will be the harvest of our good works, but only later on will we gather the fruits of this with joy, according to what is said: “Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves” (Ps 125:6). Actually Elijah’s act towards this woman was not her reward, but only a symbol of it. For if this widow would have been rewarded here on earth for having fed the man of God, what a miserable sowing, what a poor crop! She received just a temporal good: a jar of flour that did not go empty and a jug of oil that did not run dry till the day the Lord watered the earth with his rain. This sign that was given to her by God for a few days was therefore the symbol of the future life where our reward could not be lessened. Our flour will be God himself! As the flour of this woman did not run out in these days, we will not be deprived of God for all the rest of eternity (…) Sow with faith and your harvest will surely come; it will come later on, but when it will come, you will reap it endlessly.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

Because Enoch was pleasing to God he was translated bodily into heaven, thus prefiguring the translation of the just. Elijah, too, was taken up just as he was, in the substance of his bodily shape (2Kgs 2,11), foreshadowing by this the taking up of the spiritual man. Their bodies did not in any way prevent this translation or taking up for it was by means of the same hands by which they were formed in the beginning (Gn 2,7) that they were translated and taken up. Because, in the case of Adam, God’s hands were accustomed to guide, hold and carry the work they had formed, to take it up and set it down wherever they wanted. And where was this first man placed? In Paradise, undoubtedly, as Scripture says: “And God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he placed there the man whom he had formed,” (v.8). And it was from there that he was expelled in this world for having disobeyed… Does anyone believe that it is impossible men should remain alive for as long as the first of the patriarchs? Does he think that Elijah was not taken up in his body but that his body was consumed on the chariot of fire? Let him consider that Jonah, having been cast to the bottom of the sea and swallowed up in the belly of the fish, was cast up on the shore safe and sound at God’s orders. Ananias, Azarias and Mizael, thrown into a fiery furnace heated up seven times, experienced no harm and not even a smell of fire was about them (Dan 3,94). If the hand of God helped them and accomplished extraordinary things in them, impossible to human nature, what is astonishing if this same hand likewise accomplished an extraordinary thing by carrying out the will of the Father in those who were translated? Now this Hand is the Son of God, (cf Dan 3,92).

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

The older son said to his father in anger: “I constantly obeyed your orders, without disobeying a single one… and the prodigal one comes back to you, and you make more of him than of me!” The father had only just heard his son speak in this way, when he gently answered: “Listen to your father. You are with me, for you never distanced yourself from me; you did not separate yourself from the Church; you are always present at my side together with all my angels. But this one has come covered with shame, naked and with no beauty, crying: “Have mercy on me! I have sinned, Father, and as one who is guilty, I implore you. Accept me as a day laborer and feed me, for you love human beings, Lord and master of the ages.” “Your brother cried out: ‘Save me, holy Father!’… How could I not have mercy, not save my son who was moaning and sobbing? … Judge me, you who blame me… At all times, it is my joy to love human beings… They are my creatures: how could I not have mercy on them? How could I not have compassion when they repent? My entrails have brought forth this child on whom I had mercy, I who am the Lord and master of the ages. “Everything I have is yours, my son… The fortune you have has not been diminished by this, for I don’t take away from it when I give your brother gifts… I am the one and only creator of both of you, the one and only father who is good, loving and merciful. I honor you, my son, for you have always loved and served me. And on him I have compassion, for he is surrendering entirely to his repentance. So you should share the joy of all whom I have invited, I, the Lord and master of the ages. “Thus, my son, rejoice with all who have been invited to the banquet, and mingle your songs with those of all the angels, for your brother was lost and now he has been found again, he was dead and contrary to all expectations, he has risen.” The older son let himself be persuaded by these words, and he sang: “Everyone, cry out with joy! ‘Happy is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.’ (Ps 32:1) I praise you, o friend of humankind, you who also saved my brother, you, the Lord and master of the ages.”

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

“Blessed are the merciful, says the Lord, for they will be shown mercy” (Mt 5:7). Mercy is high in the list of the beatitudes. “Blessed is he who shows pity to the needy and the poor.” And again: “It is good for the man gracious in lending.” We read elsewhere: “All day long he is gracious and lends.” (Ps 71[72]:13; 111[112]:5; 36[37]:26). Let us lay hold of this blessing and earn a name for understanding; let us be kind. Even the night must not interrupt your works of mercy. Do not say: “Go, come back tomorrow and I will give it to you” (Prv 3:28). Nothing must come between your intention and your carrying out your act of kindness… “Share your bread with the hungry; bring the afflicted and the homeless into your house” (Is 58:7) and do so with joy and alacrity. “One who does acts of mercy, says Saint Paul, let him do so with cheerfulness” (Rom 12:8). Then your good deed is doubled by your readiness. On the other hand, what is offered reluctantly and under constraint is unwelcome and unadorned. Good deeds must be cheerful, not doleful… “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your wound shall be quickly healed” (Is 58:8). No who is there who does not long for light and healing?… If you are willing to listen to me, then, servants of Christ, his brothers and co-heirs (cf. Gal 4:7) I say that we should visit Christ while there is opportunity, take care of him and feed him. We should clothe Christ, welcome Christ, honor Christ (cf. Mt 25:31f.). Not only at our table, like some; not only with ointments, like Mary… nor with things that have to do with his burial, like Nicodemus… nor finally with gold, incense and myrrh, like the Magi… But, as the Lord of all “desires mercy and not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13), and as compassion is better than “thousands of rams” (Mi 6:7), let us offer him this mercy through the needy and those who are at present cast down on the ground. Let us do this so that, when we depart hence, they may “welcome us into eternal dwellings” (Lk 16:9) in the same Christ our Lord.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team