Carthage Must Be Destroyed

Feast of Holy Family An address by Pope Paul VI (Nazareth, January 5, 1964).  Taken from the Second Reading in the Office of Readings for the Sunday in the Octave of Easter. Nazareth, a model Nazareth is a kind of school where we may begin to discover what Christ’s life was like and even to understand his Gospel. Here we can observe and ponder the simple appeal of the way God’s Son came to be known, profound yet full of hidden meaning. And gradually we may even learn to imitate him. Here we can learn to realize who Christ really is. And here we can sense and take account of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded and affected his life on earth: the places, the tenor of the times, the culture, the language, religious customs, in brief, everything which Jesus used to make himself known to the world. Here everything speaks to us, everything has meaning. Here we can learn the importance of spiritual discipline for all who wish to follow Christ and to live by ...

Sermon by St. Quodvultdeus for the Feast of Holy Innocents, Martyrs (mid 5th century). Taken from the Second Reading in the Office of Readings for December 28th. They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ A tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from afar. They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in heaven and on earth. When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come. Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children. You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of ...

Sermon by St. Augustine of Hippo on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist (early 5th century). Taken from the Second Reading in the Office of Readings for December 27th.  Life itself was revealed in the Flesh We announce what existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have touched with our own hands.  Who could touch the Word with his hands unless  the Word was made flesh and lived among us?   Now this Word, whose flesh was so real that he could be touched by human hands, began to be flesh in the Virgin Mary’s womb; but he did not begin to exist at that moment. We know this from what John says:  What existed from the beginning.  Notice how John’s letter bears witness to his Gospel, which you just heard a moment ago:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.   Someone might interpret the phrase the Word of life to mean a word about Christ, rather than Christ’s body ...

Sermon by St. Fulgentius of Ruspe on the Feast of St. Stephen (Circa AD 500) Taken from the Second Reading in the Office of Readings for December 26th Armament of Love Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal King. Today we celebrate the triumphant suffering of his soldier. Yesterday our king, clothed in his robe of flesh, left his place in the virgin’s womb and graciously visited the world. Today his soldier leaves the tabernacle of his body and goes triumphantly to heaven. Our king, despite his exalted majesty, came in humility for our sake; yet he did not come empty-handed. He brought his soldiers a great gift that not only enriched them but also made them unconquerable in battle, for it was the gift of love, which was to bring men to share in his divinity. He gave of his bounty, yet without any loss to himself. In a marvelous way he changed into wealth the poverty of his faithful followers while remaining in full possession of his own inexhaustible riche...

Homily by Pope St. Leo the Great on Christmas Day (5th century) Taken from the Second Reading in the Office of Readings for December 25th Christian, remember your dignity Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.  No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.  In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God’s wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common humanity in order to reconcile it with its creator. He came to overthrow the devil, the origin of death, in that very nature by whi...

For the next several days, I will be posting the sermons from the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours . If you have never looked at the Liturgy of the Hours, this is a great time to do so. The hymns, antiphons, psalms and readings from the Christmas Season are among the best. Now that I have started praying the Divine Office, I can never go back. The Hours are meant for everyone to pray. The liturgical seasons cannot be participated in properly without it. This is my favorite Christmas to date thanks to the Liturgy of the Hours. All the great Advent prayers lead in perfectly to the Nativity of Our Lord and stir up within you a longing for Jesus Christ's coming that is fulfilled in the the Christmas Vigil. All the Sermons for the Second Reading are excellent, so I will just be posting them in their entirety and adding little to nothing myself. I am a day behind because yesterday was just too much fun to take the time to start then. So with that,  Merry Christmas! O...