17 DECEMBER – TUESDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT

Lesson at Matins – Isaias xxx. 18‒28

The Lord waits that He may have mercy on you, and therefore will He be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God of judgement, blessed are all they that wait for Him. For the people of Sion will dwell in Jerusalem: weeping you will not weep: He will surely have pity on you: at the voice of your cry, as soon as He will hear, He will answer you. And the Lord will give you spare bread and short water: and will not cause your teacher to flee away from your any more, and your eyes will see your teacher. And rain will be given to your seed, wherever you will sow in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land will be most plentiful and fat. The lamb in that day will feed at large in your possession, and your oxen, and the ass-colts, that till the ground, will eat mingled provender as it was winnowed in the floor. And there will be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill, rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of many, when the towers will fall. And the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord will bind up the wound of his people, and will heal the stroke of their wound. Behold the name of the Lord comes from afar, His wrath burns and is heavy to bear: His lips are filled with indignation, and His tongue as a devouring fire. His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations to nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

And are we then to weep no more, O Jesus? Happy we! How could we be sad now that you have heard our prayers and our eyes will behold you, our Master and our Teacher? If you yet delay some days longer, it is only that we may have more time to receive what you have made it your glory to give — the mercy and the pardon of our sins. O the happiness of your kingdom! O the richness of our lands, that is, of our souls, when your dew will have fallen on them! O the sweetness of our Bread, which is to be yourself, O Living Bread come down from Heaven! The brightness of the light which you will give us, even on the very day when you will have bound up our wounds! Blessed day, come quickly! And you, dear night, when Mary is to give her divine babe to us, when will you come? So great is our hope in this your merciful Coming that we listen with less dread to the awful words of your Prophet who, with a rapidity swift as your own word, passes over the long ages between the two events, and speaks to us of the approach of the terrible day when you will come suddenly in your burning wrath, with your lips filled with indignation, and your tongue as a devouring fire. Our present feeling is hope, for we are looking forward to that Coming in which you are the beautiful Prince of peace and love, and we cannot but hope. When that last day comes, have mercy on us! But on this day of your amiable visit, permit us to say to you the words of one of your servants: “Yes, dear Jesus, come, come to us! But in swathing-bands, not with your hand raised to punish us: in humility, not in your greatness: in the crib, not in the clouds of Heaven: in the arms of your Mother, not on the Throne of your Majesty: on the colt of the ass, not on the Cherubim to us, and not against us: to save, and not to judge: to visit us in your peace, not to condemn us in your anger. If you come to us thus, O Jesus! it is not from you, but to you, that we will flee” (The Venerable Peter of Celles, First Sermon of Advent).

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Eleutheropolis in Palestine, the holy martyrs Florian, Calanicus and their fifty-eight companions, who were massacred by the Saracens for the faith of Christ in the time of the emperor Heraclius.

At Marseilles in France, blessed Lazarus, bishop, who was raised from the dead by Our Lord, as we read in the Gospel.

At Rome, St. John de Matha, founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives. His festival is observed on the eighth of February according to the decree of Pope Innocent XI.

In the monastery of Fulda, the holy abbot Sturmius (779 AD), abbot and apostle of Saxony, who was ranked among the saints by Pope Innocent II in the second Lateran Council.

At Bigarden near Brussels, St. Vivina (1176 AD), virgin, whose eminent sanctity is attested by frequent miracles.

At Constantinople, St. Olympiades (368‒410 AD), widow.

At Andenne, at the Seven Churches, St. Begga, widow, sister of St. Gertrude.

The same day, the translation of St. Ignatius, bishop and martyr, who, the third after the blessed Apostle St. Peter, governed the Church of Antioch. His body was conveyed from Rome, where he had suffered under Trajan, to Antioch, and deposited in the church cemetery beyond the gate of Daphnis. St. John Chrysostom, on that solemn occasion, delivered a discourse to his people. But afterwards his relics were carried back to Rome, and placed with the highest reverence in the church of St. Clement, together with the body of that blessed pope and martyr.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.