Advent: December 17th-24th: Beginning this year, 2020, Thursday.

 

 

Lauds:

According to the book by Dom Anselm Lentini "De decet hymnus" this hymn is by an unknown author and from an uncertain century and it's taken from the Breviarium Gothicum (Musica Sacra)

 

Magnis prophétæ vócibus

veníre Christum núntiant,

lætæ salútis prævia,

qua nos redémit, grátia.

 

Hinc mane nostrum prómicat

et corda læta exæstuant,

cum vox fidélis pérsonat

prænuntiátrix glóriæ.

 

Advéntus hic primus fuit,

puníre quo non sæculum

venit, sed ulcus térgere,

salvándo quod períerat.

 

At nos secúndus præmonet

adésse Christum iánuis,

sanctis corónas réddere

cælíque regna pándere.

 

Ætérna lux promíttitur

sidúsque salvans prómitur;

iam nos iubar præfúlgidum

ad ius vocat cæléstium.

 

Te, Christe, solum quærimus

vidére, sicut es Deus,

ut perpes hæc sit vísio

perénne laudis cánticum. Amen.

 

With mighty voices the prophets proclaim that Christ is coming, the preceding grace of our glad salvation by which he redeemed us. Wherefore our morning sparkles and hearts grow warm with joy, when the faithful voice sounds, the forerunner of glory. That first Advent he came not to punish the world but to wipe away tears by saving what was perishing. But the second coming warns that Christ is at the door to reward the saints with crowns and open the kingdom of heaven. Eternal light is promised and a saving star foretold, now a brightly shining ray of heaven calls us to judgement.  You, O Christ, alone we seek to see as God that this never-ending vision may be sung with eternal praises. Amen.

 

 

Office of Readings: St. Ambrose

 

Milfull: Winchester Hymnal at Christmas Matins; Canterbury on Advent 3^rd, 4^th and Christmas Vigil; “This is Ambrose’s Christmas hymn Indende qui regis without the first verse."

 

Veni, redémptor géntium,

osténde partum Vírginis;

mirétur omne sæculum:

talis decet partus Deum.

 

Non ex viríli sémine,

sed mýstico spirámine

Verbum Dei factum est caro

fructúsque ventris flóruit.

 

Alvus tuméscit Vírginis,

claustrum pudóris pérmanet,

vexílla virtútum micant,

versátur in templo Deus.

 

Procédat e thálamo suo,

pudóris aula régia,

géminæ gigas substántiæ

alácris ut currat viam.

 

Æquális ætérno Patri,

carnis tropæo cíngere,

infírma nostri córporis

virtúte firmans pérpeti.

 

Præsépe iam fulget tuum

luménque nox spirat novum,

quod nulla nox intérpolet

fidéque iugi lúceat.

 

 

Come, O Redeemer of the nations, reveal your virgin birth; all the world marvels that such a birth befits God. No from the seed of man but from mystical breath the Word of God was made flesh and the fruit of the womb flourished. The Virgin’s womb grows large, the enclosure remains pure, the banners of the virtues shine, God enters his temple. He goes forth from the wedding chamber, the royal halls of modesty, a hero of twofold substance, he swiftly runs his course. Equal to the eternal Father, girded with the trophy of the flesh, strengthening the weakness of our bodies with infinite power. Even now your manger shines and night breathes a new light, which no night may interrupt,

and shines with the highest faith.

 

 

Vespers: 10^th Century

 

Verbum salútis ómnium,

Patris ab ore pródiens,

Virgo beáta, súscipe

casto, María, víscere.

 

Te nunc illústrat cælitus

umbra fecúndi Spíritus,

gestes ut Christum Dóminum,

æquálem Patri Fílium.

 

Hæc est sacráti iánua

templi seráta iúgiter,

soli suprémo Príncipi

pandens beáta límina.

 

Olim promíssus vátibus,

natus ante lucíferum,

quem Gábriel annúntiat,

terris descéndit Dóminus.

 

Læténtur simul ángeli,

omnes exsúltent pópuli:

excélsus venit húmilis

salváre quod períerat.

 

The Word of the salvation of all, proceeding from the mouth of the Father, receive, O blessed Virgin Mary, in your chaste womb. Now the heavenly, fertile Spirit has overshadowed you with light that you might give birth to Christ the Lord, to the Son equal to the Father.  This gate of the holy temple, long closed, now its blessed threshold is opened by the only supreme Ruler. Once promised through the prophets, born before the morning star, Gabriel announced, the Lord who descends to earth.  Let angels rejoice together, all the people exult; the Most High comes in humility to save that which has been lost.

Alternative Reading for St. John of the Cross: Office of Readings

 

ALTERNATIVE SECOND READING From The Spiritual Canticle by Saint John of the Cross (Red. B, st. 1,4 — ed. Kavanaugh-Rodriguez 1979, pp. 434-45) Traces of the divine beauty in creation Created things in themselves, as Saint Augustine declares, give testimony to God’s grandeur and excellence. For God created all things with remarkable ease and brevity, and in them he left some trace of who he is, not only in giving all things being from nothing, but even by endowing them with innumerable graces and qualities, making them beautiful in a wonderful order and unfailing dependence on one another. All of this he did through his own wisdom, the Word, his only begotten Son by whom he created them. Saint Paul says: The Son of God is the splendor of his glory and the image of his substance. It should be known that only with this figure, his Son, did God look at all things, that is he communicated to them their natural being and many natural graces and gifts, and made them complete and perfect, as is said in Genesis: God looked at all things that he made, and they were very good. To look and behold that they were very good was to make them very good in the Word, his Son. Not only by looking at them did he communicate natural being and graces, as we said, but also with this image of his Son alone, he clothed them in beauty by imparting to them supernatural being. This he did when he became man and elevated human nature in the beauty of God and consequently all creatures, since in human nature he was united with them all. Accordingly, the Son of God proclaimed: If I be lifted up from the earth, I will elevate all things to me. And in this elevation of all things through the incarnation of his Son and through the glory of his resurrection according to the flesh, the Father did not merely beautify creatures partially, but rather we can say, clothed them wholly in beauty and dignity.

St. John of the Cross: OCD: Supplement Liturgy of the Hours

 

EVENING PRAYER I

Soldier of the King eternal,

Valiant warrior, hail to thee!

Column raised to heights supernal

In unshaken majesty.

We revere thy glorious merits

And the tide of homage wells

From the fountain of our spirits,

Heav’nward rising as it swells.

 

Thou hast felt the strong protection

Of the Virgin Mother’s power,

Saving thee with sweet election

In the dread and dangerous hour.

Since thy youth she never swerveth

In her watchful care of thee,

And forever she preserveth

Him who vowed her slave to be.

 

Chosen offspring of our Mother,

In her labors thou didst share,

Aiding her, as son and brother,

Carmel’s beauty to repair;

Ruined shrine and temple raising

From the dust of slow decay,

Mary’s honor meetly praising,

In the dawn of fairer day.

 

Lo, the Cross thy weapon glorious,

As on Calvary’s height of yore,

When our Jesus reigned victorious,

Fallen nature to restore;

So thy burning love retrieveth

Glory of an ancient race,

And by suffering achieveth

Marvels of renewing grace.

 

Praise unto thy God be given

For the grace, O John, conferred,

When with chalice raised to Heaven,

Thine entreating prayer was heard:

In that first rapt celebration

Of the sacrifice divine,

Pledge of thine assured salvation

He hath deigned in love to sign.

Regis aeterni generose miles

 

OFFICE OF READINGS

O John, rejoice this hallowed day

The triumph of the Cross to hail,

Whereon with Christ ‘twas thine to stay,

Transfixed with pang of spear and nail!

 

Nor insults, scorn, nor cruel scourge,

Bondage, nor hunger can restrain

The love thy panting soul doth urge

To taste the bitter draught of pain.

 

Thine only joy, thy sole reward,

The boon for which thy spirit sighed,

To mirror here thy suffering Lord,

Like Him in anguish crucified.

 

While thou dost search the mystic night,

Through darkness gleams a radiant star,

And Carmel’s camp is all alight,

With flame that leads to heights afar.

 

Let them that dwell in bliss above

Praise Thee, O Christ, with joyful lay,

Let them that run to Thee in love

Pursue, like John, the thorn-strewn way.

Diem Ioannes advenit

 

MORNING PRAYER

Bearing His Cross, the gentle Lord drew nigh,

Offering the crown by merit richly won.

O Love! to quaff Thy cup and with Thee die,

Low answers John.

 

To live despised, in suffering and alone,

The one insatiate yearning of his breast;

To die devoid of honor, and unknown,

His heart’s request.

 

Death yielded triumph of the Cross at last,

While dazzling globes of fire from Heav’n descend,

And o’er his deeds the light of glory cast

To cheer his end.

 

His dying couch, with light irradiate,

Dims with celestial beam earth’s fitful flame,

Perfumes exhale, breathing of heavenly state

And saintly fame.

 

Honor supreme be to the Father given,

To Word and Paraclete in praise unite,

Upon whose Triune flame the hosts of Heaven

Feed with delight.

Dum crucem gestat Dominus, Ioanni

 

EVENING PRAYER II

Saint of the eagle eye,

Gazing enrapt on high

Mid dread abysses of Divinity;

Martyr by heart’s intent,

Virgin yet penitent,

Prophet and guide in realms of mystery.

 

Oft in thy life, ’tis told

Sweet converse thou didst hold

With the pure Virgin and her Son divine;

Thence came the wondrous light

Flooding with glory bright

Thy mystic page, for wisdom there did shine.

 

Clearly thou dost reveal

Secrets the clouds conceal

For thou hast seeped thy soul in rays above,

Pondering the mountain height,

Darkness of faith’s long night

And the reviving flame of mystic love.

 

When by God’s holy will

Thou dost His word instill,

Wondrous the marvels by the soul divined,

Like Him evoking light

From chaos deep as night,

Cheering with healthful beams the darkened mind.

 

O John, thy praise intone

Prostrate before the throne!

Thee hath the Father signed with light most true,

Gifts of the Spirit shine

And the meek Lamb divine

Openeth the book of life to thy pure view.

O satis felix! Speculator alti

Advent III: Collects

 

 

Deus, qui cónspicis pópulum tuum nativitátis domínicæ festivitátem fidéliter exspectáre, præsta, quǽsumus, ut valeámus ad tantæ salútis gáudia perveníre et ea votis sollémnibus álacri semper lætítia celebráre.

O God, who see your people faithfully awaiting the Lord’s Nativity, grant us, we pray, that we may attain the joys of so great a salvation, and eagerly to celebrate them always with solemnity and gladness.

Monday

Voci nostrae, quaesumus, Domine, aures tuae pietatis accommoda, et cordis nostri tenebras gratia Filii tui nos visitantis illustra.

With a merciful ear receive our voice, we beseech you, O Lord, and shine the light of your Son’s visitation upon the darkness of our hearts.

 Tuesday

Deus, qui novam creaturam per Unigenitum tuum nos esse fecisti, in opera misericordiae tuae propitius intuere, et in adventu Filii tui ab omnibus nos maculis vetustatis emunda.

O God, who through your Only-Begotten Son have made us a new creation, look graciously upon the works of your mercy, and at your Son’s coming cleanse us from every stain of the old way of life.

Wednesday

Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut Filii tui ventura sollemnitas et praesentis nobis vitae remedia largiatur, et praemia aeterna concedat.

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the coming solemnity of your Son may grant us health in our present life and eternal rewards.

Thursday

Indignos, quaesumus, Domine, nos famulos tuos, quos actionis propriae culpa contristat, Unigeniti tui adventu salutari laetifica.

We your unworthy servants, do beseech you, O Lord, saddened by the guilt of our own actions, may rejoice in the saving advent of your Only-begotten Son.

Friday

Praeveniat nos, omnipotens Deus, tua gratia semper atque subsequatur, ut, qui adventum Unigeniti tui summo cordis desiderio sustinemus, et praesentis vitae subsidia et futurae pariter consequamur.

Almighty God, may your grace ever go before us and after us, that we, who await with the highest desire of the heart for the advent of your Only-begotten Son, may attain your assistance now and equally in the life to come.

Saturday

Placare, Domine, quaesumus, nostrae precibus humilitatis et hostiis, et, ubi nulla suppetunt suffragia meritorum, tuae nobis indulgentiae succurre praesidiis.

Sermon of St. Thomas of Villanova: Serm. in Concept. Virginis The light of Mary

    Sermon of St. Thomas of Villanova: Serm. in Concept. Virginis  The light of Mary

There is no niggardly weighing and measuring in the Virgin's character. She has given her gifts to us all, and given them to the full. Just as the Sun of Justice, Christ our God, makes his light shine on the evil and equally on the good, so that other unfailing light, the holy Virgin, sends out the beams of her mercy on all alike, and is kind and sympathetic to all without distinction; her compassion goes out to us unstinted in all our difficulties.

 

Innumerable multitudes were filled with joy when that bright lamp, burning with the brightness of God himself, was seen for the first time—when Mary appeared in her mother's womb. The conception of God's virgin mother was a token of the joy that was to come to the world.4 Well might the prophet ask in his marriage-song: Who is this, whose coming shows like the dawn of day? No moon so fair, no sun so majestic, no embattled array so awes men's hearts.   

 

Mary entered the world radiant, like dawn, because at her immaculate conception the true Sun was over her. Though the Sun of Justice was not yet to rise from within her, he none the less bestowed upon her rising a kind of morning glory: he poured over her a copious supply of the beams of his own light, and with them she routed those powers of darkness which Eve had called into action.

 

When she is called, fair as the moon, it is no idle comparison: for of all the heavenly bodies, the moon is the one most like the sun; it derives its beauty from that likeness and from its own luster. And like the moon, Mary outshines in her manifold purity all the thousands of stars that stand in God's sight. She is as fair, then, as the moon; in fact, she is fairer: she is fair in every respect. There is no blemish in her, whether of original sin or of actua1: no blemish at all; not the shadow of one.  She is as majestic, as choice, as the sun. That other Sun, the sun's Creator, is choice as well—chosen out of thousands. They are both the Lord's choice: he out of thousands of men, she out of thousands of women.

 

No embattled array so awes men's hearts as Mary. How the princes of darkness must have shuddered when they saw her coming out to meet them—a woman, immaculately conceived against all precedent and equipped with the strongest of all armor. When her soul was infused into her body, mighty hosts of spiritual powers, countless armies of blessed spirits were on duty. Not a doubt of it: there they were, on guard round the spotless bed that stood waiting for Solomon;2 and there they watched for the enemy, ready to pounce if he tried to break in where the eternal King was to lie.

 

St. Ambrose: Common of Doctors

 

Lauds: Novus

 

Doctor ætérnus cóleris piúsque,

Christe, qui leges áperis salútis,

verba qui vitæ mérito putáris

  solus habére.

 

Teque clamámus, bone Pastor orbis,

cælitus semper solidásse Sponsæ

verba, constánter quibus illa mundo

  lumen adésset.

 

Ipse quin præbes fámulos corúscos,

áureas stellas velut emicántes,

certa qui nobis réserent beátæ

  dógmata vitæ.

 

Unde te laudes récinant, Magíster,

Spíritus fundis bona qui stupénda

ore doctórum, tua quo poténter

  lux patet alma.

 

Quique nunc iustus celebrátur, instet

ut tuam plebem per amœna lucis

des gradi, donec tibi dicat hymnos

  lúmine pleno. Amen.

 

O Christ, eternal and holy teacher, you are worshipped, who reveal the laws of salvation, you alone are understood to have the words which lead to a worthy life. We cry to you, Good Shepherd of the world, always to confirm the heavenly words of your Bride the Church, through which she is ever the light to the world.  You make your servants shine like brilliant golden stars, which reveal to us the doctrine of a blessed life. For this, O Master, they sing your praises, you who pour upon us the wonderful goods of the Spirit through the mouth of teachers by whom gracious light is powerfully revealed.  Now this just teacher is celebrated, who urges that you grant your people to advance by the pleasure of light until they, filled with light, may sing hymns to you. Amen.

 

Office of Readings and II Vespers: Novus

 

Ætérne sol, qui lúmine

creáta comples ómnia,

supréma lux et méntium,

te corda nostra cóncinunt.

 

Tuo fovénte Spíritu,

hic viva luminária

fulsére, per quæ sæculis

patent salútis sémitæ.

 

Quod verba missa cælitus,

natíva mens quod éxhibet,

per hos minístros grátiæ

novo nitóre cláruit.

 

Horum corónæ párticeps,

doctrína honéstus lúcida,

hic vir beátus splénduit

quem prædicámus láudibus.

 

Ipso favénte, quæsumus,

nobis, Deus, percúrrere

da veritátis trámitem,

possímus ut te cónsequi.

Eternal Sun, you fill all things with light, the supreme light of minds, our hearts sing to you.  By your loving Spirit, may there flow out strong lights through which the paths of salvation may be opened to the world. What words sent from heaven; what natural reason demonstrates though these ministers of grace, grows bright with new light. Participant in in their reward, sharing in brilliant teaching, this blessed man shone forth, whose praises we proclaim. With his favor, we ask, O God, that we may run: give to us the path of truth that we may come to you.

 

 

 

 

St. Ambrose and Immaculate Conception

 

 

St. Ambrose

 

Deus, qui beatum Ambrosium episcopum catholicae fidei doctorem et apostolicae fortitudinis exemplum effecisti, excita in Ecclesia tua viros secundum cor tuum, qui eam fortiter et sapienter gubernent.

 

O God, who made the blessed Bishop Saint Ambrose a teacher of the Catholic faith and an example of apostolic courage, stir up in your Church men according your own heart to govern her bravely and wisely.

 

Immaculate Conception

 

Deus, qui per Immaculátam Vírginis Conceptiónem dignum Fílio tuo habitáculum præparásti, quǽsumus, ut, qui ex morte eiúsdem Fílii tui prævísa eam ab omni labe præservásti, nos quoque mundos, eius intercessióne, ad te perveníre concédas.

 

O God, who through the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin prepared a fit dwelling place for your Son, grant, we pray, that as you preserved her from every stain by virtue of the death of your Son, which you foresaw, so, through her intercession, we, too, may be cleansed and admitted to your presence.