[Officium]
Die II infra Octavam SSmi Cordis Jesu

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the first book of Samuel
!1 Sam 9:1-4
1 Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Cis, the son of Abiel, the son of Seror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphia, the son of a man of Jemini, valiant and strong. 
2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and goodly man, and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he appeared above all the people. 
3 And the asses of Cis, Sauls father, were lost: and Cis said to his son Saul: Take one of the servants with thee, and arise, go, and seek the asses. And when they had passed through mount Ephraim, 
4 And through the land of Salisa, and had not found them, they passed also through the land of Salim, and they were not there: and through the land of Jemini, and found them not.

[Lectio2]
!1 Sam 9:5-8
5 And when they were come to the land of Suph, Saul said to the servant that was with him: Come, let us return, lest perhaps my father forget the asses, and be concerned for us.
6 And he said to him: Behold there is a man of God in this city, a famous man: all that he saith, cometh certainly to pass. Now therefore let us go thither, perhaps he may tell us of our way, for which we are come. 
7 And Saul said to his servant: Behold we will go: but what shall we carry to the man of God? the bread is spent in our bags: and we have no present to make to the man of God, nor any thing at all. 
8 The servant answered Saul again, and said: Behold there is found in my hand the fourth part of a sicle of silver, let us give it to the man of God, that he may tell us our way.

[Lectio3]
!1 Sam 9:14-17
14 And they went up into the city. And when they were walking in the midst of the city, behold Samuel was coming out over against them, to go up to the high place. 
15 Now the Lord had revealed to the ear of Samuel the day before Saul came, saying: 
16 Tomorrow about this same hour I will send thee a man of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel: and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked down upon my people, because their cry is come to me. 
17 And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him: Behold the man, of whom I spoke to thee, this man shall reign over my people.

[Lectio4]
!From the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XI
Among all other proofs of the infinite kindness of our Redeemer, this one is especially conspicuous, that, as the love of the Christian believers grew cold, he, Divine Love itself, was proposed to be honoured by a special devotion, and that the rich treasures of his goodness were thrown wide open by means of that form of worship with which we honour the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” For, as formerly God wished to give light to the human race as they came out of Noah's ark by the signal of a treaty of friendship, “a bow appearing in the clouds,” so, in those most troublous times of a more recent age, when that most subtle of heresies, Jansenism, was everywhere creeping in, and enemy of the love of God and of piety, preaching that God was not so much to be loved as a father, as to be feared as an unrelenting judge, the most kind Jesus manifested unto the nations his most Sacred Heart, borne on high like unto a banner of peace and love, an augury of certain victory in battle.

[Lectio5]
Because Our predecessor, Leo XIII, of happy memory, desiring to obtain the advantages of such a great devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in his Encyclical Letter Annum Sacrum most fittingly did not hesitate to proclaim: “When the Church, in the early period of her history, was oppressed by the yoke of the Caesars, a cross appeared in the heavens to a youthful emperor, which was at the same time both the sign and the cause of that most complete victory, which was soon to follow. Behold this day another most auspicious and most holy sign presented to our eyes: that is to say, the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a Cross set upon it, shining forth among flames of a most brilliant radiance. In this, all our hopes are to be placed; from this, the salvation of mankind is to be asked for and to be awaited.”

[Lectio6]
And it is indeed justly so; for in this most auspicious sign and in that which doth follow from it, is there not contained the highest model of piety of the whole of religion, and therefore the rule of the more perfect life, inasmuch as it leadeth our minds the more easily to a deeper knowledge of Christ the Lord, and to a more vehement love of him, and moveth our souls more effectually to a more exact imitation of him? Therefore, no one will be surprised, that Our predecessors have contínuously vindicated this most approved form of devotion from the accusations of objéctors, that they have extolled it with the highest praises, and have promoted it with the most ardent zeal, according as considerations of the period and of affairs in general have demanded. And it hath come to pass by the providence of God, that the devout affection of Christ's faithful people towards the most Sacred Heart of Jesus obtaineth daily a great increase.

[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/
_
Homily by St. John Chrysostom
!Homily 85, alias 84 in Joannem, num. 3
See ye not how mighty is the Truth? Through the zeal of the Jews the prophecy is fulfilled. And more than one prophecy was fulfilled. For when the soldiers came and brake the legs of the others, they brake not the legs of Christ. But yet these soldiers, to please the Jews, did pierce his side with a lance, and treat his body with contumely. O wicked and accursed crime! But be not troubled, beloved, or cast down. They indeed did it in ill-will, but they unwittingly contended for the truth, as verily the prophecy foretold: They shall look on him whom they have pierced. And more than this, the evil deed served as a demonstration even afterwards to those who were without faith, such as Thomas and others like him. This ineffable mystery was also consummated to another end: Forthwith came there out blood and water. Nor causelessly or by mere chance did these fountains flow, but because the Church was founded with Water and Blood.

[Lectio8]
This is well-known to those who have been initiated, namely, to all who have been regenerated by the Water, and nourished with the Flesh and Blood, so that when thou dost approach to the awesome cup, thou shouldst come as if thou wert about to drink from this very side of Christ. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: as though to say: Not from others have I heard it, but I myself was present, and saw it, and therefore my record of it is true. Truly indeed doth he thus speak. For he speaketh to us as of an insult, and not as of something great and wonderful, else thou mightest doubt his testimony; but he, (thus shutting the mouth of heretics, and foretelling future mysteries, and mindful of the treasure to be contained in them,) doth enúmerate one by one the events as they took place. These things were done that the Scriptures should be fulfilled: A bone of him shall not be broken. For even though this was written concerning the lamb which the Jews used for their Passover, nevertheless this lamb was a figure which came first to shew forth the reality yet to come, wherein the prophecy was to be perfectly fulfilled; and that is why the Evangelist quoteth the passage as a prophecy.

[Lectio9]
Since the testimony he himself beareth might not everywhere be held worthy of belief, he citeth Moses, to intimate that this thing was not done by chance, but had already long ago been foretold in writing. By Moses it was said: A bone of him shall not be broken. And again he resteth his faith on the same Prophet: These things I have said, saith he, that ye may learn how great is the resemblance between the figure and the reality. Seest thou what great care he taketh, that what appeareth as disgraceful and ignominious may be believed. For that the body should be treated with contempt by the soldier, was far worse than its crucifixion. But nevertheless, saith he, I have both said these things, and have said them most emphatically, that ye may believe. Let no one, therefore, deny credence to these things, nor in shame tamper with our beliefs. For those things which seem to be the most dishonouring, are in fact our greatest pride.
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