[Officium]
Die VII infra Octavam SSmi Cordis Jesu

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the first book of Samuel
!1 Sam 14:6-11
6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armour: Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised, it may be the Lord will do for us, because it is easy for the Lord to save either by many, or by few.
7 And his armourbearer said to him: Do all that pleaseth thy mind: go whither thou wilt, and I will be with thee wheresoever thou hast a mind.
8 And Jonathan said: Behold we will go over to these men. And when we shall be seen by them,
9 If they shall speak thus to us: Stay till we come to you: let us stand still in our place, and not go up to them.
10 But if they shall say: Come up to us: let us go up, because the Lord hath delivered them into our hands, this shall be a sign unto us.
11 So both of them discovered themselves to the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said: Behold the Hebrews come forth out of the holes wherein they were hid.

[Lectio2]
!1 Sam 14:12-15
12 And the men of the garrison spoke to Jonathan, and to his armourbearer, and said: Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said to his armourbearer: Let us go up, follow me: for the Lord hath delivered them into the hands of Israel.
13 And Jonathan went up creeping on his hands and feet, and his armourbearer after him. And some fell before Jonathan, others his armourbearer slew as he followed him.
14 And the first slaughter which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was of about twenty men, within half an acre of land, which a yoke of oxen is wont to plough in a day.
15 And there was a miracle in the camp, through the fields: yea and all the people of their garrison, who had gone out to plunder, were amazed, and the earth trembled: and it happened as a miracle from God.

[Lectio3]
!1 Sam 14:16-20
16 And the watchmen of Saul, who were in Gabaa of Benjamin looked, and behold a multitude overthrown, and fleeing this way and that.
17 And Saul said to the people that were with him: Look, and see who is gone from us. And when they had sought, it was found that Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there.
18 And Saul said to Achias: Bring the ark of the Lord. (For the ark of God was there that day with the children of Israel.)
19 And while Saul spoke to the priest, there arose a great uproar in the camp of the Philistines: and it increased by degrees, and was heard more clearly. And Saul said to the priest: Draw in thy hand.
20 Then Saul and all the people that were with him, shouted together, and they came to the place of the fight: and behold every man's sword was turned upon his neighbour, and there was a very great slaughter.

[Lectio4]
!From the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XI
Anyone who will use his eyes and mind, if he but think of this world, whereof it is truly said: The whole world lieth in wickedness: can see how urgent, especially in these our own times, is the need for expiation or atonement. For there come to our ears from every side the cries of nations, whose rulers or governments have actually risen up, and conspired together, against the Lord, and against his Church. Nor is that other sight less sad, to wit, that even among the faithful, (washed as they are by Baptism in the blood of the Lamb without spot, and enriched by his grace,) we find so many of every station in life who are ignorant of divine things, and poisoned by false doctrine; and who do live a sinful life, far from their Father's house; without the light of the true Faith; without the joy of a hope in the future life; deprived of the strength and comfort which come with the Spirit of Love; so that it may be said of them quite truthfully: They sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

[Lectio5]
To the aforesaid accumulation of evils must be added the sloth and indifference of many of his followers, who are like unto the disciples that fled from him or slept. These are such as are not firmly rooted in the Faith, and have therefore shamefully abandoned Christ at a time when he is burdened with sorros and attacked by the hosts of Satan. And other of his followers are like unto Judas the traitor, in that they walk in the footsteps of perfidy. These are such as approach the Sacrament of the Altar with sacrilegious boldness, or even go over to the camp of the enemy. And we are therefore moved to think that now is come the hour of which our Lord prophesied: Because iniquity shall abound, the love of the many shall grow cold. If those who remain faithful on fire with love at the sufferings of Christ will but meditate on these considerations, it is unthinkable that they will do other than strive with greater zeal to expiate both their own faults and the faults of others; and that they will thus seek to make reparation for the dishonour done to Christ; and so they will be filled with zeal for the eternal salvation of souls.

[Lectio6]
Surely we shall do well to apply to this our own age what the Apostle wrote: Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. For even though the sinfulness of man doth greatly increase, by the grace of the Holy Spirit there doth also increase in number those of both sexes who most cheerfully do endeavour to make satisfaction to the divine Heart for the numerous injuries heaped thereupon; may more, they even cheerfully offer themselves as victims for sin. Verily, anyone that considereth in a spirit of love all the revelation which hath come into his mind up to this time, if he have impressed such things on the fleshly tablets of his own heart, as it were, cannot but abhor and flee sin as the greatest of all evils. Such an one will therefore offer himself wholly and completely to the will of God, and by constant prayer, willing penances, and the patient endurance of all the ills that befall him will endeavour to repair the injuries done to the Majesty of God. In a word, he will so organize his life that all things in it may be motivated by the spirit of reparation.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to John
!John 19:31-37
At that time: The Jews, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath Day, for that Sabbath Day was an high day, besought Pilate that their legs might broken, and that they might be taken away. And so on.
_
A Homily by St. Cyril of Alexandria
!Comm. in Joann. Lib. 12 Cap. 19
The blessed Evangelist doth not record these things as if they were evidence of some godliness amidst all the savage cruelty which Jewry had manifested. Rather, by them he doth shew how foolishly and ignorantly a gnat can be carefully strained out, and a camel swallowed, as Christ himself had foresaid. For we perceive that they made light of most grievous and awful crimes, the while they took careful and anxious pains to observe mere trivialities; in the which consistency they did in both things but display their ignorance, as can be readily shewn. For lo! they put Christ to death, the while they give honour to the Great Sabbath. Thus, with incredible insolence, the make a shew of reverence for the Law concerning the Sabbath, whose very Author they in so doing do dishonour.

[Lectio8]
The pretend to shew especial reverence for that Great Sabbath Day&#8213;they who have put to death the Lord of that great day! And thereupon they earnestly beseech a favour worthy of such folk alone, namely, That the legs of the crucified ones may be broken! And thereby was inflicted an intoleráble pain, a bitterer misfortune than death itself, on men who were already well nigh at the point of death! The Evangelist saith: Then came the soldiers and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. Thus it doth appear that the soldiers who went in answer to this request were labouring under a frenzy of cruelty like to that of Jewry itself, and therefore they brake the legs of the two thieves whom they found yet alive. But when they came to Jesus, whose head was bowed, they concluded that he was dead already, so that it was useless to go to the trouble of breaking his legs. But to make quite certain that he was dead indeed, they did pierce his side with a spear. And forthwith there came out blood and water: a figure of the mystical Banquet and of holy Baptism, and also the first-fruits of the same.

[Lectio9]
And from these things which came to pass, the most wise Evangelist proveth to his hearers that this is the Christ, who was long ago foretold by holy Scripture; for all that happened doth agree with what was prophesied through God concerning him. And so, according to the Scriptures, not a bone of him was broken, and he was pierced with the soldier's lance. The Evangelist doth certainly say that the one who saw this thing was the same disciple that gave testimony concerning these things, and that he knew that his testimony was true, by this expression meaning not another, but himself.
&teDeum
