Today in Class

TODAY'S SAINT HIGHLIGHTS

TODAY'S COLLECT PRAYER:

Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter: O God, perfect light of the blessed, by whose gift we celebrate the paschal mysteries on earth, bring us, we pray, to rejoice in the full measure of your grace for ages unending. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

OFFICE OF READINGS

INVITATORY

Psalm 95
A call to praise God

Encourage each other daily while it is still today (Hebrews 3:13).

Come, let us sing to the Lord *
  and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.
Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving *
  and sing joyful songs to the Lord.

Ant. The Lord is risen, alleluia.

The Lord is God, the mighty God, *
  the great king over all the gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth *
  and the highest mountains as well.
He made the sea; it belongs to him, *
  the dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands.

Ant. The Lord is risen, alleluia.

Come, then, let us bow down and worship, *
  bending the knee before the Lord, our maker.
For he is our God and we are his people, *
  the flock he shepherds.

Ant. The Lord is risen, alleluia.

Today, listen to the voice of the Lord: †
Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did
  in the wilderness, *
when at Meriba and Massah
  they challenged me and provoked me, *
Although they had seen all of my works.

Ant. The Lord is risen, alleluia.

Forty years I endured that generation. *
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray
  and they do not know my ways.”
So I swore in my anger, *
  “They shall not enter into my rest.”

Ant. The Lord is risen, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. The Lord is risen, alleluia.

If the Invitatory is not said, then the following is used:

God, + come to my assistance.
— Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.

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HYMN: Hic est dies verus Dei, Saint Ambrose, 340-397

This is the day, true day of God,
serene with clear and holy light,
on which the sacred blood has washed
both shame and guilt from all the world.

In this the lost regain their faith,
the blind receive the gift of light;
can one remain in anxious fear
who sees forgiveness for the thief?

The angels wonder at this work,
they see the body wracked with pain,
they see a thief draw near to Christ
to pluck the fruit of blessed life.

How wondrous is the mystery:
that flesh should cleanse the sins of flesh,
to take away the guilt of all
and wash the world of foul decay.

What could be more sublime than this:
that guilt should seek the gift of grace,
that charity should cast out fear,
and death should render life renewed?

O Jesus, be for mind and heart
our everlasting paschal joy
and gather us, reborn by grace,
to share your triumphs evermore.

To you, Lord Jesus, glory be,
who shine in vict’ry over death,
with God the Father, ever blest,
and loving Spirit, ever one. Amen.

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PSALMODY

Ant. 1 How good is the God of Israel to the pure of heart, alleluia.

Psalm 73
Why is it that the good have many troubles?

Blessed is the man who does not lose faith in me (Matthew 11:6).

I

How good God is to Israel, *
to those who are pure of heart.
Yet my feet came close to stumbling, *
my steps had almost slipped
for I was filled with envy of the proud *
when I saw how the wicked prosper.

For them there are no pains; *
their bodies are sound and sleek.
They have no share in men’s sorrows; *
they are not stricken like others.

So they wear their pride like a necklace, *
they clothe themselves with violence.
Their hearts overflow with malice, *
their minds seethe with plots.

They scoff; they speak with malice; *
from on high they plan oppression.
They have set their mouths in the heavens *
and their tongues dictate to the earth.

So the people turn to follow them *
and drink in all their words.
They say: “How can God know? *
Does the Most High take any notice?”
Look at them, such are the wicked, *
but untroubled, they grow in wealth.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. How good is the God of Israel to the pure of heart, alleluia.

Ant. 2 Their laughter will turn to weeping, their merriment to grief, alleluia.

II

How useless to keep my heart pure *
and wash my hands in innocence,
when I was stricken all day long, *
suffered punishment day after day.

Then I said: “If I should speak like that, *
I should abandon the faith of your people.”

I strove to fathom this problem, *
too hard for my mind to understand,
until I pierced the mysteries of God *
and understood what becomes of the wicked.

How slippery the paths on which you set them; *
you make them slide to destruction.
How suddenly they come to their ruin, *
wiped out, destroyed by terrors.
Like a dream one wakes from, O Lord, *
when you wake you dismiss them as phantoms.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. Their laughter will turn to weeping, their merriment to grief, alleluia.

Ant. 3 Those who depart from you will perish; my joy is to remain with you, my God, alleluia.

III

And so when my heart grew embittered *
and when I was cut to the quick,
I was stupid and did not understand, *
no better than a beast in your sight.

Yet I was always in your presence; *
you were holding me by my right hand.
You will guide me by your counsel *
and so you will lead me to glory.

What else have I in heaven but you? *
Apart from you I want nothing on earth.
My body and my heart faint for joy; *
God is my possession for ever.

All those who abandon you shall perish; *
you will destroy all those who are faithless.
To be near God is my happiness. *
I have made the Lord God my refuge.
I will tell of all your works *
at the gates of the city of Zion.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.

Psalm Prayer

It is good to be with you, Father; in you is fullness of life for your faithful people; in you all hope resides. May you lead us to everlasting happiness.

Ant. Those who depart from you will perish; my joy is to remain with you, my God, alleluia.

My heart and my flesh, alleluia,
— Rejoice in the living God, alleluia.

READINGS

FIRST READING

From the Book of Revelation
13:1-18

The two beasts

I, John, saw a wild beast come out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads; on its horns were ten diadems and on its heads blasphemous names. The beast I saw was like a leopard, but it had paws like a bear and the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave it his own power and throne, together with great authority.

I noticed that one of the beast’s heads seemed to have been mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed. In wonderment, the whole world followed after the beast. Men worshiped the dragon for giving his authority to the beast; they also worshiped the beast and said, “Who can compare with the beast, or come forward to fight against it?”

The beast was given a mouth for uttering proud boasts and blasphemies, but the authority it received was to last only forty-two months. It began to hurl blasphemies against God, reviling him and the members of his heavenly household as well. The beast was allowed to wage war against God’s people and conquer them. It was likewise granted authority over every race and people, language and nation. The beast will be worshiped by all those inhabitants of earth who did not have their names written at the world’s beginning in the book of the living, which belongs to the Lamb who was slain.

Let him who has ears heed these words! If one is destined for captivity, into captivity he goes! If one is destined to be slain by the sword, by the sword he will be slain! Such is the faithful endurance that distinguishes God’s holy people.

Then I saw another wild beast come up out of the earth; it had two horns like a ram and it spoke like a dragon. It used the authority of the first beast to promote its interests by making the world and all its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.

It performed great prodigies; it could even make fire come down from heaven to earth as men looked on. Because of the prodigies it was allowed to perform by authority of the first beast, it led astray the earth’s inhabitants, telling them to make an idol in honor of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second wild beast was then permitted to give life to the beast’s image, so that the image had the power of speech and of putting to death anyone who refused to worship it. It forced all men, small and great, rich and poor, slave and free, to accept a stamped image on their right hand or their forehead. Moreover, it did not allow a man to buy or sell anything unless he was first marked with the name of the beast or with the number that stood for its name.

A certain wisdom is needed here; with a little ingenuity anyone can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a certain man. The man’s number is six hundred sixty-six.

RESPONSORY
Revelation 3:5; Matthew 10:22

Whoever is victorious will be clothed in white robes.
— I shall praise his name
in the presence of my Father and the angels, alleluia.

Whoever stands firm until the end will be saved.
— I shall praise his name
in the presence of my Father and the angels, alleluia.

SECOND READING

From the book On the Holy Spirit by Saint Basil the Great, bishop
(Cap. 15, 35-36: SC 17 bis, 364-370)

The Spirit gives life

Our Lord made a covenant with us through baptism in order to give us eternal life. There is in baptism an image both of death and of life, the water being the symbol of death, the Spirit giving the pledge of life. The association of water and the Spirit is explained by the twofold purpose for which baptism was instituted, namely, to destroy the sin in us so that it could never again give birth to death, and to enable us to live by the Spirit and so win the reward of holiness. The water into which the body enters as into a tomb symbolizes death; the Spirit instills into us his life-giving power, awakening our souls from the death of sin to the life that they had in the beginning. This then is what it means to be born again of water and the Spirit: we die in the water, and we come to life again through the Spirit.

To signify this death and to enlighten the baptized by transmitting to them knowledge of God, the great sacrament of baptism is administered by means of a triple immersion and the invocation of each of the three divine Persons. Whatever grace there is in the water comes not from its own nature but from the presence of the Spirit, since baptism is not a cleansing of the body, but a pledge made to God from a clear conscience.

As a preparation for our life after the resurrection, our Lord tells us in the gospel how we should live here and now. He teaches us to be peaceable, long-suffering, undefiled by desire for pleasure, and detached from worldly wealth. In this way we can achieve, by our own free choice, the kind of life that will be natural in the world to come.

Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, we ascend to the kingdom of heaven, and we are reinstated as adopted sons. Thanks to the Spirit we obtain the right to call God our Father, we become sharers in the grace of Christ, we are called children of light, blessing is showered upon us, both in this world and in the world to come. As we contemplate them even now, like a reflection in a mirror, it is as though we already possessed the good things our faith tells us that we shall one day enjoy. If this is the pledge, what will the perfection be? If these are the firstfruits, what will the full harvest be?

RESPONSORY

As we rise up from the baptismal waters,
our sins are washed away,
— and the Holy Spirit comes down to us like a dove,
bringing the peace of God from heaven,
where the Church is prefigured by the ark of Noah, alleluia.

The blessed waters of the sacrament of baptism
free us for eternal life.
— And the Holy Spirit comes down to us like a dove,
bringing the peace of God from heaven,
where the Church is prefigured by the ark of Noah, alleluia.

LAUDS

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 Let the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us, alleluia.

Psalm 90

O Lord, you have been our refuge *
from one generation to the next.
Before the mountains were born †
or the earth or the world brought forth, *
you are God, without beginning or end.

You turn men back to dust *
and say: “Go back, sons of men.”
To your eyes a thousand years †
are like yesterday, come and gone, *
no more than a watch in the night.

You sweep men away like a dream, *
like the grass which springs up in the morning.
In the morning it springs up and flowers: *
by evening it withers and fades.

So we are destroyed in your anger, *
struck with terror in your fury.
Our guilt lies open before you; *
our secrets in the light of your face.

All our days pass away in your anger. *
Our life is over like a sigh.
Our span is seventy years *
or eighty for those who are strong.

And most of these are emptiness and pain. *
They pass swiftly and we are gone.
Who understands the power of your anger *
and fears the strength of your fury?

Make us know the shortness of our life *
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever? *
Show pity to your servants.

In the morning, fill us with your love; *
we shall exult and rejoice all our days.
Give us joy to balance our affliction *
for the years when we knew misfortune.

Show forth your work to your servants; *
let your glory shine on their children.
Let the favor of the Lord be upon us: †
give success to the work of our hands, *
give success to the work of our hands.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. Let the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us, alleluia.

Ant. 2 I will turn darkness into light before them, alleluia.

Canticle: Isaiah 42:10-16
God, victor and savior

Sing to the Lord a new song, *
his praise from the end of the earth:

Let the sea and what fills it resound, *
the coastlands, and those who dwell in them.
Let the steppe and its cities cry out, *
the villages where Kedar dwells;

let the inhabitants of Sela exult, *
and shout from the top of the mountains.
Let them give glory to the Lord, *
and utter his praise in the coastlands.

The Lord goes forth like a hero, *
like a warrior he stirs up his ardor;
he shouts out his battle cry, *
against his enemies he shows his might:

I have looked away, and kept silence, *
I have said nothing, holding myself in;
but now, I cry out as a woman in labor, *
gasping and panting.

I will lay waste mountains and hills, *
all their herbage I will dry up;
I will turn the rivers into marshes, *
and the marshes I will dry up.

I will lead the blind on their journey; *
by paths unknown I will guide them.
I will turn darkness into light before them, *
and make crooked ways straight.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. I will turn darkness into light before them, alleluia.

Ant. 3 The Lord does whatever he wills, alleluia.

Praise the name of the Lord, *
praise him, servants of the Lord,
who stand in the house of the Lord, *
in the courts of the house of our God.

Praise the Lord for the Lord is good. *
Sing a psalm to his name for he is loving.
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself *
and Israel for his own possession.

For I know that the Lord is great, *
that our Lord is high above all gods.
The Lord does whatever he wills, *
in heaven, on earth, in the seas.

He summons clouds from the ends of the earth; †
makes lightning produce the rain;*
from his treasuries he sends forth the wind.

The first-born of the Egyptians he smote, *
of man and beast alike.
Signs and wonders he worked †
in the midst of your land, O Egypt, *
against Pharaoh and all his servants.

Nations in their greatness he struck †
and kings in their splendor he slew. *
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, the king of Bashan, *
and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
He let Israel inherit their land; *
on his people their land he bestowed.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. The Lord does whatever he wills, alleluia.

READING
Romans 10:8b-10

The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach). For if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Faith in the heart leads to justification, confession on the lips to salvation.

RESPONSORY

The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia, alleluia.
— The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia, alleluia.

He hung upon the cross for us,
— alleluia, alleluia.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
— The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL CANTICLE

Ant. I am the Good Shepherd; I pasture my sheep and I lay down my life for them, alleluia.

Canticle of Zechariah
Luke 1:68-79
The Messiah and his forerunner

Blessed + be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old †
  that he would save us from our enemies, *
  from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers *
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: *
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear, *
holy and righteous in his sight
  all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; *
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation *
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.

Ant. I am the Good Shepherd; I pasture my sheep and I lay down my life for them, alleluia.

INTERCESSIONS

God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence, saying:
Lord, enlighten our minds.

Father of lights, you bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory,
— fill our minds with the light of faith.
Lord, enlighten our minds.

Through the resurrection of your Son you opened for us the way to eternal life,
— as we work today sustain us with the hope of glory.
Lord, enlighten our minds.

Through your risen Son you sent the Holy Spirit into the world,
— set our hearts on fire with spiritual love.
Lord, enlighten our minds.

May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free,
— be today our salvation and redemption.
Lord, enlighten our minds.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

(Gathering our prayer and praises into one, let us offer the prayer Christ himself taught us:)

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God, perfect light of the blessed,
by whose gift we celebrate the paschal mysteries on earth,
bring us, we pray,
to rejoice in the full measure of your grace
for ages unending.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.

DISMISSAL

V. Benedicamus Domino

R. - Deo Gratias