Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine)

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord” (Is 55,8). Merit does not consist in doing or giving much, but rather in receiving, in loving much. It is said, it is much sweeter to give than to receive,(Acts 20,35) and it is true. But when Jesus wills to take for Himself the sweetness of giving, it would not be gracious to refuse. Let us allow Him to take and give all He wills. Perfection consists in doing His will, and the soul that surrenders itself totally to Him is called by Jesus Himself “His mother, His sister,” and His whole family (Mt 12,50). And elsewhere: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word (that is, he will do my will) and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him” (Jn 14,23). Oh, how easy it is to please Jesus, to delight His Heart, one has only to love Him, without looking at one’s self, without examining one’s faults too much. Your Therese is not in the heights at this moment, but Jesus is teaching her to learn to draw profit from everything, from the good and the bad she finds in herself. He is teaching her to play at the bank of love, or rather He plays for her and does not tell her how He goes about it, for that is His affair and not Therese’s. What she must do is abandon herself, surrender herself, without keeping anything, not even the joy of knowing how much the bank is returning to her… In fact, [spiritual] directors have others advance in perfection by having them perform a great number of acts of virtue, and they are right; but my director, Jesus, teaches me not to count my acts. He teaches me to do all through love, to refuse him nothing, to be content when he gives me a chance of proving to him that I love him. But this is done in peace, in abandonment; it is Jesus who is doing all in me, and I am doing nothing.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

At his first coming, God came without any brilliance, unknown by most, prolonging the mystery of his hidden life by many years. When he came down from the mountain of the Transfiguration, Jesus asked his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. Then he came like a shepherd to look for his lost sheep, and in order to get hold of the unruly animal, he had to remain hidden. Like a doctor who is careful not to frighten his patient right from the start, in the same way, the Lord avoids making himself known right from the beginning of his mission: he only does so imperceptibly and little by little. The prophet announced this event without brilliance with these words: “He shall be like rain coming down on the meadow, like showers watering the earth.” (Ps 72:6) He did not tear open the heavens so as to come on the clouds, but rather, he came in silence into the womb of a virgin and was carried by her for nine months. He was born in a manger as the son of a humble craftsman (…) He went here and there like an ordinary man; his clothing was simple, his table even more frugal. He walked without resting to the point of being tired out. But his second coming will not be like that. He will come with such brilliance that it won’t be necessary to announce his coming: “As the lightning from the east flashes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Mt 24:27) It will be the time of judgment and of sentencing. And the Lord will not appear as a doctor, but as a judge. The prophet Daniel saw his throne, the river flowing at the base of the tribunal, and that device made entirely of fire, the chariot and the wheels (7:9-10) (…) David, the prophet-king, spoke only of splendor, of brilliance, of fire flaming on all sides: “Before him is a devouring fire; around him is a raging storm.” (Ps 50:3) All these comparisons aim at making us understand God’s sovereignty, the brilliant light that surrounds him, and his inaccessible nature.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

We ought not to forget that the dignity of work is founded on love… People can’t be restricted to doing things, making objects. Work is born of love, demonstrates love and is ordered towards love. We recognise God, not just in the vistas opened out to us by nature, but also in the experience of our work and efforts. Thus work is prayer, thanksgiving, because we know that it is God who has set us on earth, we know he loves us and we are heirs of his promises. It is only right that he should say to us: “Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you do at all, do everything for the glory of God” (1Cor 10:31). Professional work is also an apostolate, an occasion for giving ourselves to others to reveal Christ to them and lead them to God our Father, which is only a consequence of the love the Holy Spirit pours into our souls. Among the criteria Paul gives to the Ephesians concerning the way in which the change brought about by their conversion is to be manifested…, we find this: “The thief must no longer steal , but rather labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with one in need” (Eph 4:28). People need earthly bread if they are to be fed, but they also need the bread of heaven to enlighten and warm their hearts. In your work, in the initiatives that flow from it, in your conversation, in your relationships, you can and must realize this command. If we work in this spirit, our lives, in spite of all the limitations proper to our earthly condition, will be an anticipation of the glory of heaven, of that communion with God and the saints in which love alone will reign, generosity, fidelity, friendship and joy. You will find within your ordinary, professional occupations the real, enduring and solid material that will enable you to realize your whole christian life and manifest the grace that comes from Christ.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

“A servant cannot serve two masters.” Not that there are two; there is only one Master. For even if there are some people who serve money, it has no inherent right to be a master; they themselves are the ones who assume the yoke of this slavery. In fact, money has no rightful authority but constitutes an unjust bondage. That is why Jesus says: “Make friends for yourselves with deceitful money” so that by generosity to the poor we will win the favor of angels and saints. The steward is not blamed. By this we learn that we are not masters but rather stewards of other people’s wealth. He was praised even though he was in the wrong because, in paying out to others in his master’s name he won support for himself. And how rightly Jesus spoke of “deceitful wealth” because love of money so tempts our desires with its various seductions that we consent to become its slaves. That is why he said: “If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?” Riches are alien to us because they exist outside of our nature; they are not born with us, they don’t follow us in death. But Christ, to the contrary, belongs to us because he is life… So don’t let us become slaves of exterior goods because Christ is the only one we should acknowledge as our Lord.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

I beg you to listen to what Christ had to say when he stretched out his hand towards his disciples: “Here are my mother and my brethren”; and, “whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother” (Mt 12:49-50). Are we to take it from this that the Virgin Mary did not do the will of the Father, she who by faith believed, by faith conceived?… Indeed and indeed she did the Father’s will and… consequently, blessed is Mary who bore her Lord in her body before she gave him birth. See if it isn’t as I say. The Lord was journeying on and the crowds were following him. He did a work of divine power and this woman in the crowd cried out: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you sucked.” But they must not think that blessedness lay in bodily relationship, so what did the Lord answer? “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” There­fore Mary is blessed because she “heard the word of God and kept it.” Her mind was filled more fully with Truth than her womb by his flesh. Christ is the truth, Christ is made flesh: Christ the truth is in Mary’s mind, Christ made flesh is in her womb. Greater is that which is in her mind than that which she carried in her womb. Mary is holy. Mary is blessed indeed!… Brothers, listen very closely: you are members of Christ’s body and you are the body of Christ (1Co 12:27)… “Whoever hears and does the will of God is my brother, and. sister, and mother”… We have a common heritage and Christ’s heart of love would not be separated from us, though he is the Only-Begotten: he wouldl have us to be heirs of his Father and co-heirs with himself (Rm 8:17).

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team