Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine)

Let us welcome our God and Lord, the true doctor who, by coming to us, is alone able to heal our souls, he who strove so mightily on our behalf. He is constantly knocking on the door of our hearts for us to open to him and let him in so that he can recline in our souls, making his home with us, and we can wash his feet and pour perfume over them. Indeed, Jesus rebukes the one who failed to wash his feet and elsewhere he says: “Behold I stand at the door…; if anyone opens the door I will enter his house” (Rv 3,20). In fact, this is the reason why he bore such great suffering, delivering up his body to death and redeeming us from slavery: it was so that he might enter our souls and make his home there. This was why our Lord says to those who are to stand on his left side at the judgement and be cast into the eternal fire: “I was a stranger and you gave me no welcome; I was hungry and you gave me no food; thirsty, and you gave me no drink” (cf. Mt 25,42f.) Because his food and drink, his clothing, shelter and rest are all within our heart. This is why he is always knocking, trying to come in to our house. So let us welcome him and bring him inside, within us, since he is our food, drink and eternal life, too. And those souls who do not now receive him within, for him to find his rest in them, or rather that they might find rest in him, will not inherit the Kingdom of heaven with the saints or be able to enter the heavenly city. But you, O Lord Jesus Christ, grant us to enter there, we who glorify your name with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ages unending. Amen.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

When our Lord and Saviour was close to Jerusalem and in sight of her, he wept over her: “Ah! If this day you only knew what makes for peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you”… Someone will perhaps say: “The meaning of these words is clear; in fact they have come to pass where Jerusalem is concerned; the Roman army laid siege to her and brought her to ruin so that she was wiped out and the time will come when she will no longer have one stone upon another.” I don’t deny it; Jerusalem was destroyed because of her blindness. Yet I put you the question: didn’t those tears have more to do with our own Jerusalem? For we ourselves are the Jerusalem over which Jesus wept – we who think ourselves to have such penetrating sight. If, having been instructed in the mysteries of the truth, having received the message of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church…, one of us should sin, he will give rise to lamentations and weeping since we weep, not over any of the pagans, but over someone who, having been a member of Jerusalem, has ceased to be so. Tears are shed over our Jerusalem since, because of her sins, “enemies surround her”, namely opposing forces, evil spirits. They will raise a palisade around her, lay siege to her and “will not leave one stone upon another”. This is what happens when, after a long period of continence and many years of chastity, a man succumbs, overcome by the flesh… This, then, is the Jerusalem over which tears are shed.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

What a great and wonderful gift God has given us, my brethren! On this, the day of Easter, day of salvation, the Lord rises again and gives resurrection to the world. (…) We are his body (1 Cor 12:27) (…), and his members rise with him; he makes us rise from death to life. In Hebrew the word “passover” means a passing over (…) : and what a passing! From sin to righteousness, from vice to virtue, from age to infancy. Yesterday, sins’ decay set us on a decline but Christ’s resurrection gives us rebirth in newborn innocence. Christian simplicity makes childhood its own. Children are without rancor, ignorant of deceit, not daring to strike. So this child that the christian has become does not fall into a rage if someone insults it, does not resist if something is taken from it, does not return blows if someone strikes it. Our Lord even demands us to pray for our enemies, give up our tunic and cloak to anyone who would steal it, turn the other cheek to those who would hit it (Mt 5:39). The childhood of Christ surpasses human childhood. (…) To the apostles, who were already mature, adult men, the Lord said: “Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3). He returns them to the origin of their lives, encourages them to rediscover their childhood, so that these men, whose vigor is declining, may be born again to innocence of heart.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

The Church is called catholic (or universal) because she exists throughout the world, from end to end of the earth, and because she teaches universally, without fail, every doctrine we need to know concerning both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly realities. Besides this she is called catholic because she submits all humanity, both leaders and subjects, learned and unlearned, to the true religion; because she tends and heals throughout the world every kind of sin committed by soul or body; and finally, because she possesses in herself every kind of virtue, in deed or word, whatever names they bear, and all the various sorts of spiritual gift. This name ‘Church’ – which means ‘assembly’ – suits her perfectly since she assembles and gathers everyone together as the Lord commands in Leviticus: “Assemble the whole community at the entrance of the Meeting Tent” (Lv 8:3)… And in Deuteronomy God says to Moses: “Assemble the people before me; I will have them hear my words” (Dt 4:10)… The Psalmist also says: “I will give you thanks in the vast assembly; in the mighty throng I will praise you” (Ps 35[34]:18)… But subsequently the Savior instituted a second assembly from among the gentiles: our own holy Church, the church of Christians, concerning which he said to Peter: “Upon this rock I will build my Church and the power of death shall not prevail against it” (cf Mt 16:18)… When the first assembly that used to be in Judaea was destroyed, the churches of Christ were multiplied through all the earth. It is of these that the Psalms speak when they say: “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints” (Ps 150[149]:1)… And it was of the same holy, catholic Church that Paul writes to Timothy: “You should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth” (1 Tim 3:15).
Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

The more we are united to our neighbor, the more we are united to God. So that you can understand the meaning of this saying I’m going to give you an image taken from the Fathers: imagine a circle drawn on the ground, that is to say a line drawn into a round shape with a compass, having a centre. We refer to the middle of the circle as being the exact centre. Now give your attention to what I am saying. Imagine that this circle is the world, its centre is God and each radius represents different ways or kinds of lifestyle. When the saints, desiring to draw near to God, move towards the middle of the circle, then to the degree to which they penetrate further into its interior they draw closer to each other even as they draw closer to God. The closer they draw to God, the closer they draw to each other; and the closer they draw to each other, the closer they draw to God. From this you will understand that the same thing applies conversely when we turn away from God to withdraw outside the circle: then it becomes obvious that, the more we withdraw from God, the more we withdraw from each other, and the more we withdraw from each other, the more we also withdraw from God. Such is the nature of charity. To the extent that we stand outside and do not love God, to the same extent each one of us stands apart with regard to their neighbor. But if we love God, then insofar as we come closer to God through our love for him, we also participate in love of neighbor to the same extent. And insofar as we are united to our neighbor we are equally so to God.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team