Pentecost, and the Gift of Tongues

This is the second reading from Vigils Saturday of the 7th week of Easter.

This is a great reading and it explains how we all have the gift of tongues

 if we are willing to share the Gospel in our own language. 

Second reading

From a sermon by a sixth century African author

The Church in its unity speaks in the language of every nation

The disciples spoke in the language of every nation. At Pentecost God chose this means to indicate the presence of the Holy Spirit: whoever had received the Spirit spoke in every kind of tongue. We must realize, dear brothers, that this is the same Holy Spirit by whom love is poured out in our hearts. It was love that was to bring the Church of God together all over the world. And as individual men who received the Holy Spirit in those days could speak in all kinds of tongues, so today the Church, united by the Holy Spirit, speaks in the language of every people.

Therefore if somebody should say to one of us, “You have received the Holy Spirit, why do you not speak in tongues?” his reply should be, “I do indeed speak in the tongues of all men, because I belong to the body of Christ, that is, the Church, and she speaks all languages. What else did the presence of the Holy Spirit indicate at Pentecost, except that God’s Church was to speak in the language of every people?”

This was the way in which the Lord’s promise was fulfilled: No one puts new wine into old wineskins. New wine is put into fresh skins, and so both are preserved. So when the disciples were heard speaking in all kinds of languages, some people were not far wrong in saying: They have been drinking too much new wine. The truth is that the disciples had now become fresh wineskins, renewed and made holy by grace. The new wine of the Holy Spirit filled them, so that their fervor brimmed over and they spoke in manifold tongues. By this spectacular miracle they became a sign of the Catholic Church, which embraces the language of every nation.

Keep this feast, then, as members of the one body of Christ. It will be no empty festival for you if you really live what you are celebrating. For you are the members of that Church which the Lord acknowledges as his own, being himself acknowledged by her, that same Church which he fills with the Holy Spirit as she spreads throughout the world. He is like a bridegroom who never loses sight of his own bride; no one could ever deceive him by substituting some other woman.

To you men of all nations, then, who make up the Church of Christ, you, the members of Christ, you, the body of Christ, you, the bride of Christ—to all of you the Apostle addresses these words: Bear with one another in love; do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Notice that when Paul urges us to bear with one another, he bases his argument on love, and when he speaks of our hope of unity, he emphasizes the bond of peace. This Church is the house of God. It is his delight to dwell here. Take care, then, that he never has the sorrow of seeing it undermined by schism and collapsing in ruins.

To pray the office of Vigils follow the link
http://divineoffice.org/

Liturgy of the Hours Vol. II:
Proper of Seasons: 1004
Psalter: Saturday, Week III, 1472

Alleluia

Today's second reading for vigils caught my attention. I have read this passage every year and I was surprised in that I have read this passage many time and today it was like I had never seen it before.

This is why lectio is very important in our lives, you never know how God is going to speak to you today.

From a discourse on the psalms by Saint Augustine, bishop

The Easter Alleluia

"Now therefore, brethren, we urge you to praise God. That is what we are all telling each other when we say Alleluia. You say to your neighbor, “Praise the Lord!” and he says the same to you. We are all urging one another to praise the Lord, and all thereby doing what each of us urges the other to do. But see that your praise comes from your whole being; in other words, see that you praise God not with your lips and voices alone, but with your minds, your lives and all your actions."

From the Liturgy of the Hours 2nd vol pg 865

It makes me stop and think about how my actions are praising God.  Is my life an Alleluia life?

Good Friday Tenebrae 2013

Good Friday

This is the prayer service that we use during the tenebrae on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, at  St. Emma Monastery. The one following is for Good Friday.

We use the triangle with 15 candles 14 brown and 1 white. The candles are extinguished after each of the psalms until the the only one remaining is the Christ candle which is taken away during the Christus factus est that is sung at the end of the tenebrae, it is brought back in we have the concluding prayer, and then leave in silence.

 We start with Vigils:

 Then we start Lauds right after Vigils

Palm Sunday 1st Vespers 2013

Palm Sunday 

PSALM 144 B

All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,

and your friends shall repeat their blessing.

They shall speak of the glory of your reign

and declare your might, O God,

To make known to men your mighty deeds

and the glorious splendor of your reign.

Your is an everlasting kingdom;

your rule lasts from age to age.

The Lord is faithful in all his words

and loving in all his deeds.

The Lord supports all who fall

and raises all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all creatures look to you

and you give them their food in due time.

You open wide your hand,

grant the desires of all who live.

The Lord is just in all his ways

and loving in all his deeds.

He is close to all who call him,

who call on him from their hearts.

He grants the desires of those who fear him,

he hears their cry and saves them.

The Lord protects all who love him;

but the wicked he will utterly destroy.

Let me speak the praise of the Lord, /

let all mankind bless his holy name

forever, for ages unending.

TO the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit

give praise forever. Amen.

PSALM 145

My soul, give praise to the Lord; /

I will praise the Lord all my days,

make music to my God while I live.

Put no trust in princes,

in mortal men in whom there is no help.

Take their breath, they return to clay

and their plans that day come to nothing.

He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Who alone made heaven and earth,

the seas and all they contain.

It is he who keeps faith forever,

who is just to those who are oppressed.

It is he who gives bread to the hungry,

the Lord, who sets prisoners free,

The Lord who gives sight to the blind,

who raises up those who are bowed down,

The Lord, who protects the stranger

and upholds the widow and orphan.

It is the Lord who loves the just

but thwarts the path of the wicked.

The Lord will reign forever,

Zion’s God, from age to age.

GIVE praise to the Father Almighty,

to his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord,

TO the Spirit who dwells in our hearts,

both now and forever. Amen.

PSALM 146

Praise the Lord, for he is good; /

sing to our God, for he is loving:

to him our praise is due.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem

and brings back Israel’s exiles,

He heals the broken-hearted,

and binds up all their wounds.

He fixes the number of the stars;

he calls each one by its name.

Our Lord is great and almighty;

his wisdom can never be measured.

The Lord raises the lowly;

he humbles the wicked to the dust.

O sing to the Lord, giving thanks;

sing psalms to our God with the harp.

He covers the heavens with clouds;

he prepares the rain for the earth,

Making mountains sprout with grass

and with plants to serve man’s needs.

He provides the beasts with their food

and young ravens that call upon him.

His delight is not in horses,

nor his pleasure in warrior’s strength.

The Lord delights in those who revere him,

in those who wait for his love.

GIVE praise to the Father Almighty,

to his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord,

TO the Spirit who dwells in our hearts,

both now and forever. Amen.

PSALM 147

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!

Zion, praise your God!

He has strengthened the bars of your gates,

he has blessed the children within you.

He established peace on your borders,

he feeds you with finest wheat.

He sends out his word to the earth,

and swiftly runs his command.

He showers down snow white as wool,

he scatters hoar-frost like ashes.

He hurls down hailstones like crumbs.

The waters are frozen at his touch;

He sends forth his word and it melts them:

at the breath of his mouth the waters flow.

He makes his word known to Jacob,

to Israel his laws and decrees.

He has not dealt thus with other nations;

he has not taught them his decrees.

GIVE praise to the Father Almighty,

to his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord,

TO the Spirit who dwells in our hearts,

both now and forever. Amen.

READING 1 Peter 1:18-21

Realize that you were delivered from the futile way of life your fathers handed on to you, not by any diminishable sum of silver or gold, but by Christ’s blood beyond all price: the blood of a spotless, unblemished lamb chosen before the world’s foundation and revealed for your sake in these last days. It is through him that you are believers in God, the God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory. Your faith and hope, then, are centered in God.

CANTICLE OF MARY

Luke 1:46-55

The soul rejoices in the Lord

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

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.

INTERCESSIONS

Before his passion, Christ looked out over Jerusalem and wept for it, because it had not recognized the hour of God’s visitation. With sorrow for our sins, let us adore him, and say:

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

You longed to gather to yourself the people of Jerusalem, as the hen gathers her young,

teach all peoples to recognize the hour of your visitation.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

Do not forsake those who have forsaken you,

turn our hearts to you, and we will return to you, our God.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

Through your passion you gave grace to the world,

help us to live always by your Spirit, given to us in baptism.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

By your passion, help us to deny ourselves,

and so prepare to celebrate your resurrection.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

You reign in the glory of the Father, remember those who have died today.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

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

Almighty ever-living God,

who as an example of humility

for the human race to follow,

caused our savior to take flesh

and submit to the Cross,

graciously grant that

we may head his lesson of patient suffering

and so merit a share in his Resurrection.

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

– Amen.