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From the Roman office.
℣. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May the Gospel’s holy lection Be our safety and protection.
℟. Amen.
Reading 1
Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 4:38
At that time Jesus arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever. And so on.
Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
Bk. 4 on Luke iv
Behold here how long-suffering is the Lord our Redeemer! Neither moved to anger against them, nor sickened at their guilt, nor outraged by their attacks, did He leave the Jews’ country. Nay, forgetting their iniquity, and mindful only of His mercy, He strove to soften their hard and unbelieving hearts, sometimes by His teaching, and sometimes by freeing some of them, and sometimes by healing them. St. Luke doth well to tell us first of the man who was delivered from an unclean spirit, and then of the healing of a woman. The Lord indeed came to heal both sexes, but that must be healed first which was created first, and then must not she be passed by whose first sin arose rather from fickleness of heart than from depraved will.
℣. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
℟. Thanks be to God.
℟. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak, as the Holy Ghost gave them utterance;
* And the multitude came together, saying: Alleluia.
℣. The Apostles spoke in diverse tongues the wonderful works of God.
℟. And the multitude came together, saying: Alleluia.
℣. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. God’s most mighty strength alway be His people’s staff and stay.
℟. Amen.
Reading 2
That the Lord began to heal on the Sabbath-day showeth in a figure how that the new creation beginneth where the old creation ended. It showeth, moreover, that the Son of God, Who is come not to destroy the law but to fulfill the law (Matth. v. 17), is not under the law, but above the law. Neither was it by the law, but by the Word, that the world was created, as it is written “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Ps. xxxii. 6). The law, then, is not destroyed, but fulfilled, in the Redemption of fallen man. Whence also the Apostle saith: “Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. iv. 22).
℣. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
℟. Thanks be to God.
℟. Henceforth I call you not servants, but I have called you My friends, because ye have known all things, whatsoever I have done among you. Alleluia.
* Receive ye the Holy Ghost, Who is your Comforter within you; the Same is He Whom the Father will send unto you. Alleluia.
℣. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
℟. Receive ye the Holy Ghost Who is your Comforter within you; the Same is He Whom the Father will send unto you. Alleluia.
℣. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
℟. Receive ye the Holy Ghost Who is your Comforter within you; the Same is He Whom the Father will send unto you. Alleluia.
℣. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May He that is the Angels’ King to that high realm His people bring.
℟. Amen.
Reading 3
It was well that He began to heal on the Sabbath, that He might show Himself to be the Creator, weaving in one with another of His works, and continuing that which He had already begun, even as a workman, being to repair an house, beginneth not to take down that which is old from the foundations, but from the roof. Thus doth the Lord begin to lay to His hand again, in that place whence last He hath lifted it; then He beginneth which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. iv. 22) with things lesser, that He may go on to things greater. Even men are able to deliver other men from evil spirits, albeit with the word of God: to command the dead to rise again is for God’s power alone. Perchance, also, this woman, the mother-in-law of Simon and Andrew, was a type of our nature, stricken down with the great fever of sin, and burning with unlawful lusts after diverse objects. Nor would I say that the passion which rageth in the mind is a lesser fire than that fever which burneth the body. Covetousness, and lust, and uncleanness, and vain desires, and strivings, and anger, these be our fevers.
℣. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
℟. Thanks be to God.
Te Deum