Old Stuff

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time

Second Reading from the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours for Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, bishop

(Lib. 3, 19, 1.3--20, 1: SC 34, 332. 336-338)

In Christ are the firstfruits of the resurrection

The Word of God became man, the Son of God became the Son of Man, in order to unite man with himself and make him, by adoption, a son of God. Only by being united to one who is himself immune could we be preserved from corruption and death, and how else could this union have been achieved if he had not first become what we are? How else could what is corruptible and mortal in us have been swallowed up in his incorruptibility and immortality, to enable us to receive adoptive sonship? Therefore, the Son of God, our Lord, the son of man by a human birth from Mary, a member of the human race.

The Lord himself has given us a sign here below and in the heights of heaven, a sign that man did not ask for because he never dreamt that such a thing would be possible. A virgin was with child and she bore a son who is called Emmanuel, which means "God is with us." He came down to earth here below in search of the sheep that was lost, the sheep that was in fact his own creature, and then ascended into the heights of heaven to offer to the Father and entrust to his care the human race that he had found again. The Lord himself became the firstfruits of the resurrection of mankind, and when its time of punishment for disobedience is over the rest of the body, to which the whole human race belongs, will rise from the grave as the head has done. By God's aid it will grow and be strengthened in all its joints and ligaments, each member having its own proper place in the body. There are many rooms in the Father's house because the body has many members.

God bore with man patiently when he fell because he foresaw the victory that would be his through the Word. Weakness allowed strength its full play, and so revealed God's kindness and great power.

Responsory: 1 Corinthians 15:20, 22, 21

Christ has been raised to life;
he is the firstfruits of the harvest when all the dead shall rise.
--Just as in Adam all men die,
so in Christ all men will be brought to life.

Death came through a man
and through a man the resurrection of the dead has also come.
--Just as in Adam all men die,
so in Christ all men will be brought to life.

Prayer

Lord our God,
help us to love you with all our hearts
and to love all men as you love them.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Let us praise the Lord.
--And give him thanks.

Posted by billw at February 4, 2003 04:22 AM