[Officium]
Die V infra Octavam SSmi Cordis Jesu

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the first book of Samuel
!1 Sam 12:1-5
1 And Samuel said to all Israel: Behold I have hearkened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you.
2 And now the king goeth before you: but I am old and greyheaded: and my sons are with you: having then conversed with you from my youth unto this day, behold here I am.
3 Speak of me before the Lord, and before his anointed, whether I have taken any man's ox, or ass: If I have wronged any man, if I have oppressed any man, if I have taken a bribe at any man's hand: and I will despise it this day, and will restore it to you.
4 And they said: Thou hast not wronged us, nor oppressed us, nor taken ought at any man's hand.
5 And he said to them: The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found any thing in my hand. And they said: He is witness.

[Lectio2]
!1 Sam 12:6-9
6 And Samuel said to the people: It is the Lord, who made Moses and Aaron, and brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt.
7 Now therefore stand up, that I may plead in judgment against you before the Lord, concerning all the kindness of the Lord, which he hath shown to you, and to your fathers:
8 How Jacob went into Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord: and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and brought your fathers out of Egypt: and made them dwell in this place.
9 And they forgot the Lord their God, and he delivered them into the hands of Sisara, captain of the army of Hasor, and into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

[Lectio3]
!1 Sam 12:10-14
10 But afterwards they cried to the Lord, and said: We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Astaroth: but now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.
11 And the Lord sent Jerobaal, and Badan, and Jephte, and Samuel, and delivered you from the hand of your enemies round about, and you dwelt securely.
12 But seeing that Naas king of the children of Ammon was come against you, you said to me: Nay, but a king shall reign over us: whereas the Lord your God was your king.
13 Now therefore your king is here, whom you have chosen and desired: Behold the Lord hath given you a king.
14 If you will fear the Lord, and serve him, and hearken to his voice, and not provoke the mouth of the Lord: then shall both you, and the king who reigneth over you, be followers of the Lord your God

[Lectio4]
!From the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XI
According to that degree of perfection wherewith our oblation and our sacrifice do correspond to the Sacrifice of our Lord, that is to say, to the extent that we have immolated love of self and its passions, and thereby have crucified our flesh in that mystical crucifixion concerning which the Apostle wrote, in that same degree shall we gather the fruits of propitiation and expiation for ourselves and for others. For a wondrous bond doth join all the faithful unto Christ, namely, that bond which uniteth the Head with the members of the body, which is to say, the Communion of the Saints, a bond full of mystery in which we as Catholics do nevertheless verily believe. By virtue of this bond, individuals and nations are not only united the one with the other, but likewise with the Head itself, which is Christ: from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. This verily was the prayer which Christ Jesus himself, the Mediator between God and man, made at the time of his death: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one.

[Lectio5]
Therefore, even as our effort at consecration doth manifest and strengthen our union with Christ, so our practice of expiation (by purifying us from sins) is the beginning of such union; wherefrom our participation in the sufferings of Christ is the means of perfecting such union; and the offering which we make to him of our sacrifices for the welfare of our brethren bringeth such union to its final consummation. Now this is precisely the design of the mercy of Jesus, when he doth unveil to the gaze of mankind his Heart, surrounded by the emblems of his passion, and aflame with the Fire of Love, namely: that we, (on the one hand, perceiving the unlimited malice of sin, and on the other, filled with a knowledge of the infinite love of him who is The Reparator,) may detest sin more heartily, and substitute for it a burning love for him. And verily, the spirit of expiation or of reparation hath always played a chief part in the devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and reparation is most consonant with the origin, nature, efficacy and particular practices of this special devotion, a fact confirmed by history and the customs of the faithful, by the sacred liturgy, and by the official documents of the Supreme Pontiffs.

[Lectio6]
Inasmuch as, when Christ revealed himself to the sight of Margaret Mary, though he then insisted on the immensity of his love, at the same time, with sorrowful mien, he grieved over the great number of horrible outrages heaped upon him by the ingratitude of mankind, he used then these words, words which should be graven on the hearts of all pious souls so as never to be forgotten by them: Behold that Heart which hath so loved men; which same hath heaped upon them so many benefits; in return for whose infinite love no gratitude is to be found; but instead cometh unto it forgetfulness, indifference, outrages; and all such things do come at times even from souls that are bound closely thereunto by the bonds of a very special love.

[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. Bernardin of Siena John continueth: One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. O Love, thou that canst dissolve all things, how thou didst flow forth from our Beloved, for the sake of our redemption! In order that this thy flood of love might spread everywhere, the great firmament was rent above us, even the heights of the Heart of Jesus, which the cruel spear did not fail to pierce to its innermost abyss. And forthwith came there out blood and water. Blood for redemption flowed out, but also water for cleansing; whence the Church was formed from the side of Christ, that she might know herself ever to be the sole-beloved one of Christ, and that she might understand how greatly sin displeaseth him, as she seeth his divine blood flow forth from the God-Man, both in life and in death. For if the divine blood be shed for us, then we cost not a little.

[Lectio8]
The water flowed not forth intermingled with the blood. For if it had so done, it could not have been perceived by simple folk. And perchance all the blood flowed forth from that divine body, as a sign that all his love was poured out, after which a watery humour came forth. Verily this was a token of a profound mystery, to wit, that from one and the same body came forth first the price of our redemption amongst all peoples. For many waters may be taken to signify many peoples; yet all who belong to the Christian Faith, are one people in the Faith, so that they are not as many waters; rather they are as one stream of water, and as such did flow from the side of Christ, as saith the Apostle in the tenth chapter of the former Epistle to the Corinthians: For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread and one cup. And again, in the fourth chapter of Ephesians, he saith: One God, one faith, one baptism.

[Lectio9]
Nevertheless, it is especially deserving of our attention that the side of Christ is said to have been pierced, (that is, set open,) not wounded, since a wound cannot properly be said to be inflicted except on a living body. For John the Evangelist saith: One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side: that through this side thus opened, we might become aware of the love of his Heart, even unto death, and that we might enter into that unutterable love of his, through the same channel whereby it came unto us. Let us draw near then to his Heart, a deep Heart, a hidden Heart, a Heart thinking of all, a Heart knowing all, a Heart loving, yea, even on fire with love. Let us also recognize at least in the vehemence of his love that the gate is open; with our hearts made like unto his, let us enter into that secret place, hidden from all eternity, but now in death revealed, as it were, through the open side; for the opening of his side is a figure of the opening of the eternal temple, where is consummated the everlasting happiness of every creature.
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