Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine)

The Lord said: “This is my resting place forever,” and he “chose Zion as the place where he will dwell.” (Ps 132:14) But the temple is destroyed. Where will God’s eternal throne be? Where will his resting place be forever? Where will his temple be for him to dwell there? The apostle Paul gives us an answer: “You are the temple of God, … the Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Cor 3:16). That is the house and temple of God. They are filled with his teaching and his power. They are the dwelling place for the holiness of God’s heart. But it is God who builds this dwelling place. If it were built by human hands, it would not last, not even if it were founded on human teaching. Our fruitless work and our worries are not enough to protect it. The Lord goes about this in a different way: he did not found it on earth or on moving sand, but it rests on the prophets and the apostles (Eph 2:20); it is built constantly out of living stones (1 Pet 2:5). It will develop to the ultimate dimension of Christ’s body. Its construction continues constantly. Many houses go up all around it and they will resemble one another in one big and happy city (Ps 122:3).

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

In one of the psalms the prophet says: “My soul pines for your salvation; I hope in your word” (119[118]:1) (…) Who is it expressing this ardent desire if not “the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the people set apart for God” (1 Pt 2:9), each in their own day, in each one of those who have lived, are living or will live from humanity’s first beginning until the end of the world? (…) That is why our Lord himself says to his disciples: “Many prophets and righteous men have wanted to see what you see.” It is their voice, then, we must recognise in this psalm (…) Their longing has never come to an end in the saints, nor does it end even now in “the Body of Christ, the Church” (Col 1:18) until “the Desired of all nations” comes (Hag 2:8 Vg) (…) So the beginning of the Church’s era, before the Virgin had given birth, comprised saints who longed to see Christ’s coming in the flesh; and the period where we are now, following the Ascension, comprises other saints who long to see the revealing of Christ to judge the living and the dead. From the beginning to the end of time the Church’s longing has never lost its intensity, excepting only when our Lord was alive on earth in the company of his disciples.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

“Nightlong in my little bed I sought him whom my soul loves” (Sg 3:1). It is a great good to seek God; in my opinion the soul knows no greater blessing. It is the first of its gifts and the final stage in its progress. It is inferior to none, and it yields place to none. What could be superior to it, when nothing has a higher place? What could claim a higher place, when it is the consummation of all things? What virtue can be attributed to anyone who does not seek God? What boundary can be set for anyone who does seek him? The psalmist says: “Seek his face always” (Ps 104:4). Nor, I think, will a soul cease to seek him even when it has found him. It is not with steps of the feet that God is sought but with the heart’s desire; and when the soul happily finds him its desire is not quenched but kinkled. Does the consummation of joy bring about the consuming of desire? Rather it is oil poured upon the flames. So it is. Joy will be fulfilled (Ps 15:11) but there will be no end to desire, and therefore no end to the search… That every soul among you who is seeking God may know that she has been forestalled, and that she was found before she was sought… This is what you are urged to do by the goodness of him who anticipates you, who sought him, and loved you before you loved him (1Jn 4:10). You would not seek him or love him unless you had first been sought and loved. Not only in one blessing have you been forestalled but in two, being loved as well as being sought. For the love is the reason of the search, and the search is the fruit of the love, and its certain proof. You are loved so that you may not suppose you are sought to be punished. You are sought so that you may not complain you are loved in vain.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

Brethren, we must take care that the Word who came forth from the Father’s mouth and came down to us through the mediation of the Virgin Mary does not return back empty (Is 55,11) but that we return grace for grace to him through this same Virgin. Let us then call to mind unceasingly remembrance of the Father for as long as we are left to sigh after his presence. Let us make the torrents of his grace rise back to their source that they may return to us even more abundantly… You keep the Lord in mind, therefore do not refrain from speaking, do not keep silent about him. Those who are already living in his presence do not need this warning…; but those who are still living in faith must be exhorted not to answer God with silence. For “the Lord speaks; he proclaims peace to his people”, to his holy ones, to those who return to themselves (Ps 85[84],9). He hears those who hear him; he will speak to those who speak to him. Otherwise he, too, will keep silent if you do not speak, if you do not proclaim his glory. “O you who are to remind the Lord, take no rest and give no rest to him until he re-establishes Jerusalem and makes of it the pride of the earth” (Is 62,6-7). For sweet and lovely is the praise of Jerusalem… But whatever the offering you bring before God, remember to entrust it to Mary that grace may rise up to its source through the same channel that brought it down to us… Have great care to present God with the little you have to offer him through Mary’s hands, those most pure hands, worthy of receiving the best welcome.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team

The service of the good shepherd is love. That is why Jesus says that he “lays down his life for his sheep”. For we must know what distinguishes him: the good shepherd watches over the needs of his flock, the bad one seeks his own interest. That is what the prophet said: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who seek only to feed themselves! Should they not feed their flock?” (Ezek 34:2) Those who only use the flock for their own interest are not good shepherds… A good shepherd in the natural sense bears with much for the sake of the flock over which he watches, as Jacob testified: “By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night.” (Gen 31:40)… But the spiritual flock’s salvation is more important than even the life of the shepherd. That is why, when the flock is in danger, its shepherd must accept to lose his physical life for the salvation of the flock. The Lord said: “The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep”, his physical life in the loving exercise of authority… Christ gave us an example: “He laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” (1 Jn 3:16).

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team