Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine)

[Saint Catherine heard God say to her:] “Know that no one can escape my hands, for I am who I am (Ex 3:14), whereas you have no being at all of yourselves. What being you have is my doing; I am the Creator of everything that has any share in being. But sin is not of my making, for sin is non-being. Sin is unworthy of any love, then, because it has no part in me. Therefore, my creatures offend me when they love sin, which they should not love. (…) But they cannot escape me: Either I will have them in justice because of their sin, or I will have them in mercy. Open the eye of your understanding, then, and look at my hand, and you will see that what I have told you is true.” So, in obedience to the most high Father, she raised her eyes, and she saw within his closed fist the entire world. And God said: “My daughter, see now and know that no one can be taken away from me.ls Everyone is here as I said, either in justice or in mercy. They are mine; I created them, and I love them ineffably. And so, in spite of their wickedness, I will be merciful to them because of my ser­vants, and I will grant what you have asked of me with such love and sorrow. (…) Then that soul was beside her­self as if drunk, at once gloriously happy and grief-stricken. She was happy in her union with God, wholly submerged in his mercy and savoring his vast goodness; but to see such goodness offended brought her grief.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

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There is a kind of wealth that is deadly to all: the loss of it salutary. Which, when it makes the soul pure — that is, poor and bare — hears the Savior speaking thus: “Come, follow Me.” For to the pure in heart he now becomes the way. But into the impure soul the grace of God finds no entrance because that soul is unclean which is rich in lusts and in thrall to many worldly posessions. For whoever holds possessions, gold, silver and houses, as gifts of God, witnesses his thanksgiving to God by coming to the aid of the poor. He knows that he possesses them more for the sake of others than his own and is superior to the possession of them, not the slave of the things he possesses. He does not carry them about in his soul, nor bind and circumscribe his life within them, but is ever labouring at some good and divine work. Even should he be necessarily, at some time or other, deprived of them, he is able with cheerful mind to bear their removal equally with their abundance. This is someone who is blessed by the Lord, and called “poor in spirit”, a fitting heir of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5,3)… But someone who carries his riches around enclosed within his soul and, instead of God’s Spirit, bears in his heart gold or land, and is always acquiring possessions without end, and is perpetually on the outlook for more, never looking up to heaven: such a one is fettered in the toils of the world, being earth and destined to return to the earth (Gn 3,19). How can someone like that be able to desire the kingdom of heaven who, instead of a heart, carries land or metal, and who is due to be surprised by death in the midst of his uncontrolled desires? For “where your heart is, there also will your treasure be” (Mt 6,21).

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

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Rightly, then, did the birth of this child make many rejoice then and does make many rejoice today: born in the old age of his parents he was to preach the grace of rebirth to an aging world. Rightly does the Church solemnly venerate this birth, which is wonderfully brought about by grace and at which nature wonders. To me certainly the birth of the world’s Lamp (Jn 5:35) brings fresh joy, for it enabled me to recognize the true Light shining in the darkness but not mastered by the darkness, (Jn1:5.9). His birth brings me a joy utterly unspeakable, for so many outstanding benefits accrue to the world through it. He is the first to give the Church instruction, to initiate it by penance, to prepare it by baptism. When it is prepared he delivers it to Christ and unites it with him, (Jn 3:29). He both trains it to live temperately and, by his own death, gives it the strength to die with fortitude. In all these ways he prepares for the Lord a perfect people, (Lk 1:17).

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

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It was prayer, not sexual desire, that brought about John’s conception. Elizabeth’s womb was already past the age of childbearing, her body had lost all hope of conceiving, yet, in spite of this state of hopelessness, the prayer of Zachariah permitted her aged body to bear fruit once more. It was grace, not nature, that conceived John. He could not but be a saint, this child whose birth resulted less from an embrace than from prayer. However, we shouldn’t be surprised that John was worthy of so glorious a birth. The birth of Christ’s forerunner, of him who made straight his way, had to show some resemblance to that of the Lord our Savior. Thus, if our Lord was born of a virgin, John was conceived by an old and barren woman (…) And we do not wonder any the less at Elizabeth for conceiving in her old age than at Mary for giving birth in virginity. To my mind there is something symbolic in this: John represented the Old Testament; he was born of the blood, already cold, of an aged woman. Whereas Our Lord, who announced the Good News of the Kingdom of heaven, is offspring of vigorous youth. Mary, aware of her virginity, wonders at the child curled up in her womb; Elizabeth, aware of her age, blushes at her womb swollen by pregnancy; as the evangelist says: “She went into seclusion for five months.” We are to admire, too, the fact that the same archangel, Gabriel, announced both births: he brought consolation to Zachariah, who remained incredulous; he came to Mary, whom he found believing (Lk 1:26f.). The first lost his voice for having doubted; the second, because she believed, at once conceived the Word, the Savior.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

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You see on God’s altar bread and a cup. That is what the evidence of your eyes tells you, but your faith requires you to believe that the bread is the body of Christ, the cup the blood of Christ. In these few words we can say perhaps all that faith demands. Faith, however, seeks understanding (…). How can bread be his body? And the cup, or rather what is in the cup, how can that be his blood ? These things, my friends, are called sacraments, because our eyes see in them one thing, our understanding another. Our eyes see the material form; our understanding, its spiritual effect. If, then, you want to know what the body of Christ is, you must listen to what the Apostle tells the faithful: “Now you are the body of Christ, and individually you are members of it” (1 Cor 12:17). If that is so, it is the sacrament of yourselves that is placed on the Lord’s altar, and it is the sacrament of yourselves that you receive. You reply “Amen” to what you are, and thereby agree that such you are. You hear the words “The body of Christ” and you reply “Amen.” Be, then, a member of Christ’s body, so that your “Amen” may accord with the truth. Yes, but why all this in bread? Here let us not advance any ideas of our own, but listen to what the Apostle says over and over again when speaking of this sacrament: “Because there is one loaf, we, though we are many, form one body” (1 Cor 10:17). Let your mind assimilate that and be glad, for there you will find unity, truth, piety, and love. He says, “one loaf”: and who this one loaf? “We, though we are many, form one body”. Now bear in mind that bread is not made of a single grain, but of many. Be, then, what you see, and receive what you are.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

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