@Tempora/Pasc6-0
(sed rubrica 1960 aut rubrica cisterciensis omittitur)

[Officium]
Feria VI post Octavam Ascensionis

[Officium] (rubrica 196 aut rubrica 1955)
Feria VI infra Hebdomadam post Ascensionem

[Lectio4]
From the Sermons of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
!Same as before.
Dearly beloved brethren, if the Flesh wherein our Saviour trampled down the devil had not been of our nature, He would indeed have exercised Himself, but He would not have conquered for us. If the Body wherein He rose from the grave had not been of our nature, His Resurrection would not have affected our state. Whoso asserteth this, that Christ hath but one nature, he doth not understand why Christ took Flesh upon Him, he confoundeth the order, and maketh void the benefit of the Incarnation. If the Flesh wherein our Healer came was not sharer in human | nature, then all that by His Birth He took from man would have been degradation. O may such dangerous! dreams be far from our thoughts What He took is ours, what He gave is His. I testify that the first Adam, who fell, and the second Adam, Who rose from the dead, are both of the same human nature that I am of. I testify that What lay in the grave, and What ascended into heaven, is of the same human nature that I am of.

[Lectio5]
It was therefore just because His Body was of our nature, that Christ's Death hath quickened us, His Resurrection raised us up, His Ascension sanctified us. It was just because His Body was of our nature, that His Presence in the heavenly kingdoms is a pledge that we also shall one day be there. Let us therefore strive, dearly beloved brethren, since the Lord hath on this day gone up on high in a Body of our nature, ourselves, as far as we can, to ascend thither in hope, to follow Him with our heart. Let us ascend to Him in love, and speed keeping pace with love, even by our very sins and passions. If every one of us would strive to get above them, and accustom himself to tread on them, he might make of even them a stepping-stone to mount to higher things. Such things lift us up if they are underneath us.

[Lectio6]
We make our vices a ladder, if we tread them down. With the Author of goodness there ascended no spite with the Son of the Virgin, no lust or sensuality. I say vices do not follow to heaven the Father of perfection, sin the Holy One of God, neither weakness nor disease the Divine Healer. If therefore we would enter into the kingdom of that Healer, we must first take heed to our sores. We must so order and guard in us the mutual relations of our soul and body, that the soul, the nobler part of man, may not be dragged down to hell by her grovelling companion, but may rather, being herself of a nature more glorious, bear with her to heaven at the last a sanctified body, by the help of Him Who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to John
!John 15:26-27; 16:1-4
At that time, Jesus said unto His disciples: When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, Which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me. And so on.
_
Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
!92nd Tract on John.
Upon the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost came down upon a congregation of an hundred and twenty men, among whom were all the Apostles. These men, after they had been filled with the Spirit, began to speak with the tongues of all nations, and many of the bystanders, amazed at the marvel, when they saw in the discourse of Peter, how great and how Divine a witness was borne to the fact that the Christ, Whom they had murdered, and Whom they reckoned among the dead, had risen again and was alive, many of these bystanders were pricked in their heart (Acts ii. 37) and were converted. They received pardon from that noble Blood, Which they had so sacrilegiously and so brutally shed, seeing that that Blood had redeemed even Its Own out-pourers.

[Lectio8]
The Blood of Christ „Which is shed for many for the remission of sins“ was so effectually shed, that It could remit even the very sin that shed It. Toward this looked the Lord when He said „ They hated Me without a cause but when the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you from the Father, He shall testify of Me.“ This was as though He had said They have hated Me and slain Me while they see Me, but when they shall see Me no more, the Comforter shall bear such testimony of Me, as will compel them to believe in Me. „And ye also,“ saith He, „shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning,“ the Holy Ghost shall bear witness, and ye also shall bear witness. „Because ye have been with Me from the beginning,“ ye are able to speak that ye do know, (John iii. 11,) which ye do not now, while as yet the fulness of the Spirit is not come upon you.

[Lectio9]
He shall testify of Me and ye also shall bear witness when the love of God is shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost Which shall be given unto you, and maketh you not ashamed to lift up your testimony. This love had not been so shed abroad in Peter's heart when he was frightened by the questioning of the maid-servant, and could not bear witness to the truth, but brake his promise, and was driven by strong fear to deny Christ thrice. „There is no such fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.“ Before the Passion of the Lord, Peter's slavish fear was questioned by a bondwoman but after the Resurrection of the Lord, his free love was asked by the very Prince of freedom, and therefore the first questioning shook him, but under the second he was at peace at the first he denied Him Whom he had loved at the second he loved Him Whom he had denied. But, even so, his love was weak and narrow, until the Holy Ghost had strengthened and widened it.
&teDeum