Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine)

How can it be that, in spite of such promises and incentives on the Lord’s part, we refuse to abandon ourselves wholly and unreservedly to him and renounce all things, even life itself, in accordance with the Gospel (Lk 14:26) in order to love him alone and nothing but him? Consider all that has been done for us: what glory has been given to us; what benefits granted by the Lord from the time of the fathers and prophets with the history of salvation in view; what promises, what encouragements, what compassion on our Lord’s part ever since the beginning! And at the end he demonstrated his unutterable care for us by coming himself to dwell with us and dying on the cross to turn us back to him and bring us back to life. Yet we, we don’t set aside our self will, our love of worldly things, our evil inclinations and habits, and thus we appear as people who have little or no faith at all. And yet, in spite of this, see how God shows himself to us full of gentle goodness. He protects and cares for us invisibly; he does not completely abandon us to the world’s wickedness and illusions, despite our sins; in his great patience he keeps us from perishing and watches from afar for the time of our turning back to him.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

Having been baptized into Christ, and put on Christ (Gal 3,27), you have been made conformable to the Son of God; for God, having predestined us for adoption (Eph 1,5), formed us (Gn 2,7) according to Christ’s glorious body… You have become “christs” by receiving the sign of the Holy Spirit. Everything that has happened to you has been in imitation of Christ, whose images you are. Having washed in the river Jordan… Christ came up from the waters and the Holy Spirit, in the fullness of his being, alighted on him. In the same way you, after you had come up from the baptismal pool, received the unction and were anointed with the holy chrism which is the Holy Spirit with which Christ himself was anointed… For Christ was not anointed with oil or a material ointment, but the Father, who had appointed him beforehand to be Savior of the whole world, anointed him with the Holy Spirit, as David the Prophet also cried, saying: “God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows” (Ps 44[45],8). And as Christ was in reality crucified, and buried, and raised, so you are, in baptism, accounted worthy of sharing symbolically in his cross, his tomb and his resurrection. So it is, too, regarding the unction. Christ was anointed with a spiritual oil of gladness, that is, with the Holy Spirit, who is called oil of gladness because he is the author of spiritual gladness. In the same way you were anointed with a holy oil that made you partakers and fellows of Christ himself… And you were first anointed on the forehead, that you might be delivered from the shame of the first Adam and that with unveiled face might reflect as in a mirror the glory of the Lord (2Cor 3,16).

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

Taking Peter with him, Andrew led his brother according to the flesh to the Lord, so that he, like himself, might become a disciple. This was Andrew’s first achievement. He enabled the number of disciples to grow; he introduced Peter, in whom Christ found the head of his disciples. This was so true that later, when Peter behaved admirably, he owed this to what Andrew had sown. The praise given to the one is also reflected on the other for the advantages of the one belong to the other and the one glories in the other’s merits. What joy Peter obtained for all when he immediately answered the Lord’s question, breaking the disciples’ embarrassed silence… Peter alone said: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” (Mt 16:16) He spoke in the name of all; in one sentence, he proclaimed the Savior and his plan of salvation. How greatly does this proclamation agree with that of Andrew! The words which Andrew spoke to Peter when he led him to Christ – “We have found the Messiah” – were confirmed by the heavenly Father when he himself inspired Peter with them (Mt 16:17): “You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God!”
Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

“Put your finger into the marks of the nails”. You looked for me when I wasn’t there, now take advantage of it. I understand your desire despite your silence. Before you tell me them I already know your thoughts. I heard you speak and, even though unseen, I was beside you, beside your doubts. Without revealing myself I made you wait so as better to consider your eagerness. “Put your finger into the marks of the nails. Put your hand into my side; do not be unbelieving any longer, but believe.” Then Thomas touched him and all his mistrust fell away. Full of genuine faith and all the love owing to God, he cried out: “My Lord and my God!” And the Lord said to him: “You believe because you have seen me; happy are those who have not seen and yet believe!” Thomas took the news of the resurrection to those who had not seen. Draw the whole earth to believe, not by its own sight but at your word. Go through peoples and cities far away. Teach them to carry the cross rather than weapons on their shoulders. Only proclaim me: they will believe and worship. They will demand no other proof. Tell them they are called by grace and, with your own eyes, behold their faith. Truly, blessed are those who did not see and yet believed! This is the army the Lord raises; these are the children of the baptismal font, the works of grace, the fruit of the Spirit. They have followed Christ without having seen him; they sought him and believed. They recognised him with the eyes of faith not those of the body. They have not put their finger into the mark of the nails but they have bound themselves to his cross and embraced his sufferings. They have not seen the Lord’s side but, by grace, they have become members of his body and have made his words their own: “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe!”

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

“This is the day the Lord has made” (Ps 118[117]:24). Call to mind what the world was like in the beginning: “Darkness covered the abyss while God’s Spirit swept over the waters. Then God said: ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God then separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness he called ‘night’” (Gn 1:2f.)… “This is the day the Lord has made.” It is the day the apostle Paul spoke about: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph 5:8)… Isn’t it true to say that Thomas was a man, one of the disciples, one of the crowd so to speak? His brethren said to him: “We have seen the Lord”. But he said: “Unless I touch him, unless I put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” The evangelists bring you the news and you don’t believe it? The world believed but a disciple did not believe?… The day the Lord has made had not yet happened; darkness still covered the abyss, the depths of darkness of the human heart. Let him come who is the sign of day, let him come and, without anger, let him who brings healing patiently, gently say: “Come. Come, touch and believe. You declared that: ‘Unless I touch him, unless I put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ Come, touch, put in your hand and do not be unbelieving but believe. I understand your wounds; it is for you I have kept my scars.” In putting out his hand this disciples is able to bring his faith to full completion. Indeed, what is faith’s completion? Not to believe that Christ is only man, not even to believe that Christ is only God, but to believe that he is man and God… And so the disciple whom the Saviour granted to touch his bodily members and scars, cried out: “My Lord and my God.” He touched the man, he recognised the God. He touched the flesh, he turned towards the Word, for “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14). The Word permitted his flesh to be hung on the wood…; the Word permitted his flesh to be placed in the tomb. The Word raised up his flesh, showed it to the disciples’ face, offered it to their touch. They touched, they cried out: “My Lord and my God!” This is the day the Lord has made!
Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team