[Officium]
Dominica infra Octavam Ascensionis

[Officium] (rubrica 196 aut rubrica 1955)
Dominica post Ascensionem

[Ant 1]
But when the Comforter is come * Whom I will send unto you from the Father, He shall testify of Me, alleluia.

[Oratio]
O Almighty and everlasting God, grant that our will be ever meekly subject unto thy will, and our heart ever honestly ready to serve thy majesty. 
$Per Dominum

[Commemoratio]
!Commemoration of the Octave of the Ascension
@Tempora/Pasc5-4:Oratio

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the first letter of St. John the Apostle
!1 John 1:1-5
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life:
2 For the life was manifested; and we have seen and do bear witness, and declare unto you the life eternal, which was with the Father, and hath appeared to us:
3 That which we have seen and have heard, we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things we write to you, that you may rejoice, and your joy may be full.
5 And this is the declaration which we have heard from him, and declare unto you: That God is light, and in him there is no darkness.

[Lectio2]
!John 1:6-10
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

[Lectio3]
!1 John 2:1-6
1 My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
3 And by this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He who saith that he knoweth him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But he that keepeth his word, in him in very deed the charity of God is perfected; and by this we know that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk, even as he walked.

[Lectio4]
From the Sermons of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
!2nd on the Ascension
Dearly beloved brethren, our Saviour is gone up from us into heaven, but let us not be troubled on earth. Let only our heart be there with Him, and we shall have peace here. Let us in heart thither ascend with Christ in the mean while, and when that glad day which He hath promised cometh, our body will follow. But we must know, my brethren, that there are some things that cannot ascend with Christ pride cannot, nor covetousness, nor brutishness no one of our diseases can ascend thither where our Healer is. And, therefore, if we would follow our Healer, we must needs leave our diseases and sins behind us. All such things tie us down, as it were, with bands, and hamper us in the meshes of a net of sins but, with God's help, we will say with the Psalmist: “Let us break their bands asunder,” (ii. 3,) that we may be able honestly to say to the Lord: “Thou hast loosed my bonds, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.” (cxv. 16, 17.)

[Lectio5]
The Resurrection of the Lord is our hope the Ascension of the Lord is our glorification. To-day we keep the solemn holiday of the Ascension. If, therefore, our keeping of this holiday is to be a right, faithful, earnest, holy, godly keeping, we must in mind likewise ascend, and lift up our hearts unto the Lord. When we ascend we must not be high-minded, nor flatter ourselves with our good works, as though they were our own. We must lift up our hearts unto the Lord. When man's heart is lifted up, but not unto the Lord, such lifting-up is pride to lift up the heart unto the Lord, is to make the Most High our Refuge. Behold, my brethren, a great wonder. God is high, but if thou art lifted up He fleeth from thee, whereas, if thou humblest thyself, He cometh down to thee. Wherefore? “The Lord is high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly but the proud He knoweth from afar.” (Ps. cxxxvii. 6.) To the lowly He hath respect, that He may raise them up the proud He knoweth from afar, that He may thrust them down.

[Lectio6_]
Christ arose again, to give us hope that this mortal will yet put on immortality He hath assured against an hopeless death, and against the thought that death endeth life. We were troubled, eyen as touching the soul but Christ, arising from the grave, hath assured to us the resurrection of the body also. Believe therefore, that thou mayest be made pure. First it behoveth thee to believe, if by faith thou wouldest in the end worthily see God. And wouldest thou see God Give ear to His own words “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matth. v. 8.) Think first, then, how to purify thine heart; take from it whatsoever thou seest in it which displeaseth God.

[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
!Tract 92 on John
The Lord Jesus, in that discourse which He addressed to His disciples after the Last Supper, when He was on the very eve of the Passion, when He was, as it were, about to go away and leave them as touching His bodily Presence, albeit as touching His spiritual Presence, He is with us alway even unto the end of the world, (Matth. xxviii. 20,) in that discourse He exhorted them to bear patiently the persecution of wicked men, of whom He speaketh as “the world”, out of which world, nevertheless, He saith that He hath chosen even His disciples themselves, (xv. 19,) that they might know that it was by the grace of God that they were what they were, (1 Cor. xv. 10,) whereas it was by their own sins that they had been what they had been.

[Lectio8]
If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” Here He clearly pointeth to the Jews, the persecutors both of Himself and of His disciples, so that we see that they which persecute His holy ones are as much citizens of the world of damnation as they which persecuted Himself. He saith: “They know not Him That sent Me,” (21,) and yet again, (24,) “They have hated both Me and My Father,” (xv. 24,) that is to say, both the Sender and the Sent, the meaning of which words we have already treated in other discourses and with that He cometh to the words “That the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law They hated Me without a cause.”

[Responsory8]
R. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you;
* And when He is come, He will guide you into all truth. Alleluia.
V. For He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak and He will show you things to come.
R. And when He is come, He will guide you into all truth. Alleluia.
&Gloria
R. And when He is come, He will guide you into all truth. Alleluia.

[Lectio9]
Then saith the Lord, as though in continuation “But 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 ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.” What connection hath this with the words: “Now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father but that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law They hated Me without a cause.” Is it that when the Comforter is come, even the Spirit of truth, He will confound by irrefragable testimony them who have both seen and hated both God the Son and God the Father? Yea, indeed, some there were who had seen and still hated, whom the testimony of the Comforter converted to the faith which worketh by love.
&teDeum

[Capitulum Laudes]
!1 Peter 4:7-8
v. My beloved: Be prudent, therefore, and watch in prayers. But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins.
$Deo gratias

[Capitulum Sexta]
!1 Peter 4:9-10
v. Using hospitality one towards another, without murmuring, as every man hath received grace, ministering the same one to another: as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
$Deo gratias

[Capitulum Nona]
!1 Peter 4:11
v. If any man speak, let him speak, as the words of God. If any man minister, let him do it, as of the power, which God administereth: that in all things God may be honoured through Jesus Christ our Lord.
$Deo gratias

[Ant 3]
These things have I told * you, that, when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them, alleluia.