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| Henri-Dominique Lacordaire at the convent of Sainte-Sabine in Rome, by Théodore Chassériau (1840), Musée du Louvre |
Readings for the Liturgy
of the Hours
Augustinian Press 1995
TWENTY-SECOND WEEK
IN ORDINARY TIME
SUNDAY
First Reading 2 Kings 14:1-27
Responsory
Mt 24:7.11-13; Eph 6:11
Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray, and as lawlessness spreads, most people's love will grow cold. But t whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.
V. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. + Whoever perseveres ...
Second Reading From a Letter by Lacordaire
It taught gradually by the Church and
imbued with her life-giving breath, we enter with facility of heart in to that monument of truth built by God which is the Bible, we will pass under many
shadows in its depths, passages where one has to bend one's head, and
sublimities where our understanding will almost fail. However, supported by our
unfailing companion, the Church herself, we will go from inspiration to
inspiration under the firmament of the holy Word, rejoicing with it in the open
plains of eternity, admiring Jesus Christ as he comes ever nearer, longing for
him with the patriarchs, seeing him from afar with the prophets, greeting him
with the harp of the psalms, until at last, on the threshold of the second
temple, he appears to us wholly filled with his glory and death, predestined
victim of the reconciliation of souls, and sovereign explication of all that is
by all that was.
This vision of Jesus Christ not only
fills the long roll of holy books; it interweaves great world events. The
Christian sees these events therein under the hand of providence, guided by the
laws of justice and grace. In this light he discerns the succession of empires,
the rise and fall of great races. He realizes that neither chance nor fate mean
anything, but that everything progresses under the twofold impulse of the
freedom of man and the wisdom of God. This view of the true meaning of history
enraptures the Christian. He gains an understanding of life which no experience
could give him, because experience shows him only man, whereas the Bible reveals
at one and the same time both God in man and man in God.
This revelation not only makes itself felt
in the great moments of the Bible; it is there throughout. God is never absent
from his work. He is in the field with Boaz, behind the daughter of Naomi, just
as he is in Babylon at Belshazzar's feast. He sits by Abraham's tent as a traveller
wearied by his journey, just as he dwells on the summit of mount Sinai in the thunder
proclaiming his presence. He helps Joseph in prison, just as he crowns Daniel
in captivity. The smallest details of family or wilderness, the names, places,
and events, all these are filled with God, and it is in the course of four millennia,
from Eden to Calvary, from righteousness lost to righteousness regained, that
one follows from beginning to end, step by step, all the movements of his mercy
and all those of his might.
Who could remain unmoved
by so great a pilgrimage? Guided by faith along such paths, who could fail to return
home a better man? The Bible is at one and the same time the drama of our
destiny, the primitive history of the human race, the philosophy of saints, the
legislation of a people chosen and governed by God; within the providence of four
thousand years it is the preparation and the seed of the whole future of mankind;
it is the storehouse of all the truth needed by man, the charter of his rights,
the treasury of his hopes, the abyss of his consolations, the kiss of God upon
his heart; finally, it is Christ the Son of God who has saved him.
Responsory Rm 15:4; 2 Tm 3:16
All that was written long ago in scripture was written for our instruction, + so that by its encouragement we might have hope.
V. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for refuting error, for correction, and f
Subject: Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sent from my iPad
Lacordaire, ca.1855
Jean-Baptiste Henri-Dominique Lacordaire (12 May 1802 – 21 November 1861), often styled Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, was a French ecclesiastic, preacher, journalist and political activist. He re-established the Dominican Order in post-Revolutionary France
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