[Rank]
Dominica IV Post Epiphaniam;;Semiduplex;;5

[Rule]
9 lectiones
Symbolum Athanasium

[Oratio]
O God, Who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that, by reason of the frailty of our nature, we cannot always stand upright; grant to us such health of mind and body, that by thy strength and protection we may overcome all evils, whereby for our sins we are justly afflicted.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the letter of St Paul the Apostle to the Philippians
!Phil 1:1-7
1 Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ; to all the saints in Christ Jesus, who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.
2 Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I give thanks to my God in every remembrance of you,
4 Always in all my prayers making supplication for you all, with joy;
5 For your communication in the gospel of Christ from the first day until now.
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he, who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus.
7 As it is meet for me to think this for you all, for that I have you in my heart; and that in my bands, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my joy.

[Responsory1]
@Tempora/Epi2-0:Responsory1

[Lectio2]
!Phil 1:8-14
8 For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your charity may more and more abound in knowledge, and in all understanding:
10 That you may approve the better things, that you may be sincere and without offence unto the day of Christ,
11 Filled with the fruit of justice, through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
12 Now, brethren, I desire you should know, that the things which have happened to me, have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel:
13 So that my bands are made manifest in Christ, in all the court, and in all other places;
14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, growing confident by my bands, are much more bold to speak the word of God without fear.

[Responsory2]
@Tempora/Epi2-0:Responsory2

[Lectio3]
!Phil 1:15-18
15 Some indeed, even out of envy and contention; but some also for good will preach Christ.
16 Some out of charity, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.
17 And some out of contention preach Christ not sincerely: supposing that they raise affliction to my bands.
18 But what then? So that by all means, whether by occasion, or by truth, Christ be preached: in this also I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

[Responsory3]
@Tempora/Epi2-0:Responsory3

[Lectio4]
From the Book of Moral (Reflections on Job) written by Pope St Gregory (the Great.)
!iv. 30.
We refresh the body lest it should grow too weak and fail us; we chasten it by abstinence, lest it should wax gross, and become lord over us; we strengthen it with exercise, lest it perish by the not using; and straightway we give it rest, lest it faint through weariness; we succour it with raiment, lest the cold should blight it; and we strip it of the raiment wherewith we have clothed it, lest the heat should afflict it. In all these so many offices what do we but serve the corruptible? Upon what is all this care spent but upon that wherover hangeth the doom of weakness and change?

[Responsory4]
@Tempora/Epi2-0:Responsory4

[Lectio5]
Therefore saith Paul tells: For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him Who hath subjected the same in hope because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Rom. viii. 20.) The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly  for when man had of his own free will abdicated his state of unchangeable blessedness, the just sentence of death was passed upon him, and whether he willed or not, he became subject to the state of change and corruption. But the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption when it shall rise again incorruptible and be made partaker of the glory of the children of God.

[Responsory5]
@Tempora/Epi2-0:Responsory5

[Lectio6]
Where, then, the elect are still subject to sorrow, being yet bound by the sentence of corruption; but when we shall have put off this corruptible we shall be loosed from that sentence, and shall sorrow no more. For though we earnestly desire to appear before God, we are still hindered by the burden of this dying body. Rightly then are we called prisoners, since we are not free to go whither we will, that is to say, to God; and rightly did the prisoner Paul, yearning after the things which are eternal, and still weighed down with the burden of this corruptible, rightly did he cry out I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ. (Phil. i. 23.) He would not have felt this keenness if he had not felt himself bound down.

[Responsory6]
@Tempora/Epi2-0:Responsory6

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 8:23-27
In that time when Jesus entered into the boat, his disciples followed him: And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but he was asleep. And so on.
_
Homily by St Jerome, Priest (at Bethlehem.)
!Bk. i. Comm. on Matth. viii.
The fifth sign that He did was when He took ship at Capernaum, and commanded the winds and the sea the sixth, when, in the country of the Gergesenes, He suffered the devils to enter into the swine the seventh, when, as He came into His own city, He cured the man sick of the palsy lying on a bed. The first man sick of the palsy that He cured was the centurion's servant.

[Responsory7]
@Tempora/Epi2-0:Responsory7

[Lectio8]
But He was asleep; and His disciples came to Him, and awoke Him, saying Lord, save us. There is a type of this in the history of Jonah, who, when the storm arose, was lying fast asleep, and whom the sailors woke to help them; who also saved the sailors by commanding them to throw him into the sea, the said casting of him into the sea, being, as we know, a figure of Christ's Passion. Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. From these words we understand that all~
things, which have been made, are sentient to their Maker. All things which He rebuketh or commandeth, hear His voice. This is not the error of the heretics who will have it that everything is quick, but part of the majesty of the Creator, Who maketh to feel Him things which we cannot make to feel us.

[Responsory8]
@Tempora/Pent01-0:Responsory8

[Lectio9]
But the men marvelled, saying What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him? It was not His disciples that marvelled, but the sailors, and the others that were in the ship. If however, any one willeth to withstand this our interpretation and to maintain that it was the disciples who marvelled, we are ready to answer them that they who knew not before the power of the Saviour deserve to be stripped of the title of disciples, and to be called simply the men.
&teDeum

[Versum 2]
V. The Lord reigneth He is clothed with majesty.
R. The Lord is clothed with strength, and has girded Himself with power.

[Ant 2]
When Jesus was entered into a ship, * there arose a great tempest in the sea and His disciples awoke Him, saying Lord, Save us we perish.

[Versum 3]
V. Let my prayer, O Lord, be set forth.
R. As incense before thee.

[Ant 3]
Lord, Save us * we perish give the word, O God, and let there be a great calm!
