Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine)

“I have not come to abolish, but to fulfil.” The strength and power of these words of the Son of God enclose a profound mystery. For the Law prescribed works, but it directed all those works towards faith in realities that would be made manifest in Christ: for the Savior’s teaching and Passion are the great and mysterious design of the Father’s will. Under the veil of its inspired words, the Law made known the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, his incarnation, Passion and resurrection. The prophets, no less than the apostles, teach us repeatedly that the mystery of Christ had been prepared from all eternity to be revealed in our own times… Christ did not want us to think that his own works comprised anything other than the Law’s demands. That is why he himself insisted: “I have not come to abolish, but to fulfil.” Heaven and earth… will disappear but not the least commandment of the Law, for all the Law and the prophets find their fulfilment in Christ. At the time of his Passion… he declared: “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). And at that very moment every word of the prophets was confirmed. For this reason Christ declares that not even the least of God’s commandments can be cancelled without offending God… Nothing can be more insignificant than the smallest. And humblest of all was the Lord’s Passion and death on the cross.
Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

“You are Peter and on this rock I shall build my Church”. He was given this name of ‘Peter’ because he was the first to set the foundations of the faith among the nations and because he is the indestructible rock on which rests the judgement seat and the whole edifice belonging to Christ Jesus. It was on account of his faithfulness that he was called Peter, whereas our Lord receives the same name on account of his power according to Saint Paul’s words: “They drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was the Christ” (1Cor 10:4). Yes, the apostle chosen to be his co-worker merited to share the same name as Christ. They built the same building together: Peter does the planting, the Lord gives the increase, and it is the Lord, too, who sends those who will do the watering (cf. 1 Cor 3:6f.). As you know, my beloved, it was following on from his own failure, when our Savior suffered, that blessed Peter was raised up. It was after he had denied the Lord that he became the first next to him. Rendered more faithful when he wept over the faith he had betrayed, he received a still greater grace than the one he had lost. To him Christ confided his flock so that he might guide it like a good shepherd, and he who had been so weak would now become the support of all. He who had fallen when questioned about his faith must now establish the others on the unshakeable foundations of faith. Hence he is called the foundation stone of the piety of the Churches.
Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

As he sent out disciples into his harvest – which had, in truth, been sown by the Father’s Word but which required to be worked over, cultivated and carefully tended if the birds were not to ravage the seed – Jesus said to them: “Behold, I send you out like lambs among wolves”. (…) The Good Shepherd could not but fear wolves in his flock: these disciples were sent to spread grace abroad, not to become a prey. But the Good Shepherd’s care prevented the wolves from doing anything against the lambs he sends out. He sends them that Isaiah’s prophecy might be fulfilled: “The wolf and the lamb shall graze alike” (Is 65:25) (…) And besides, were not the disciples who were sent out ordered not even to carry a staff? (…) What our humble Lord laid down, his disciples also accomplished by practising humility. For he sends them out to broadcast the faith, not by force but by their teaching; not by exerting force of will but by exalting the doctrine of humility. And he thought good to link patience to humility since, according to Peter’s testimony: “When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten” (1 Pt 2:23). This amounts to saying: “Be imitators of me: let go of your thirst for revenge; respond to the blows of pride, not by returning evil for evil but with the patience that forgives. No one should perform on their own account what they reprehend in others; gentleness confronts the arrogant with far greater strength”.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

The vinegrower goes to his vineyard to cut the wild shoots. If he didn’t do this and left them on the good branches, his vine would only produce sour, bad wine. This is what a nobleman or a noblewoman must do: they must prune themselves of all that is out of order, uproot entirely all their ways of being and inclinations, whether they be those of joy or suffering, that is to say, they must cut off their bad faults. This will not break either head or arm or leg! But hold back your knife until you have seen what you have to cut. If the vinegrower didn’t know the art of pruning, he would cut everything, both the good branch, which will soon give raisins, and the bad branch, and he would ruin the vineyard. That is what certain people do. They don’t know their job. They leave the vices, the bad inclinations, which are deeply rooted in nature, and they prune and trim poor nature itself. Nature in itself is good and noble: what do want to cut away from it? When the time comes for the fruit, that is to say, for divine life, you won’t have anything left but nature in ruins.
Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

These words of our Savior: “I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and this joy no one can take away” should not be applied to the time after his resurrection when he showed himself in the flesh to his disciples and told them to touch him, but to that other time about which he had already said: “If anyone loves me, my Father will love him and I will manifest myself to him,” (Jn 14:21). This manifestation is not for this life but for that of the world to come; it is not for a moment but will never end. “Eternal life is this: that they should know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent,” (Jn 17:3). The apostle Paul said of this seeing and knowledge: “Now we see in a mirror darkly, but then, face to face. Now I know in part but then I shall know even as I am known,” (1 Cor 13:12). At the present time the Church gives birth to the fruit of its labor in desire, but then she will bring it to birth in vision; now she gives birth in pain, but then in joy; now in supplication, but then in praise. It is a fruit that will have no end for only the infinite can satisfy us. That is what caused Philip to say: “Lord, show us the Father and we shall be satisfied,” (Jn 14:8).

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team