🎶Introit (Is 45, 8 | Ps 79, 2)
Veni, et osténde nobis fáciem tuam, Dómine, qui sedes super Chérubim: et salvi érimus. Qui regis Israël, inténde: qui dedúcis, velut ovem, Joseph.
Come, O Lord, and show us Your face, You who sit above the Cherubim, and we shall be saved. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a sheep. Glory be to the Father.
📜I Reading (Is 19, 20-22)
In those days, the peoples shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor. And He shall send them a Savior and a defender to deliver them. Then the Lord shall be known in Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; they shall worship Him with sacrifices and offerings, they shall make vows to the Lord and perform them. And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a plague and heal it, and they shall return to the Lord. And the Lord our God shall show Himself appeased to them and shall heal them.
📜II Reading (Is 35, 1-7)
These things says the Lord: The wilderness and the trackless land shall be glad, and the solitude shall exult and flower like a lily. It shall bud and germinate and exult with joy and praise. The glory of Lebanon has been given to it, and the beauty of Carmel and Sharon. They themselves shall see the glory of the Lord and the beauty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the trembling knees. Say to the fainthearted: Take courage and fear not; behold, your God comes, bringing vengeance and just retribution. God Himself will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then the lame man shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall be loosed. Waters shall break forth in the desert and torrents in the solitude. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land shall be turned into springs of water, says the Lord almighty.
📜III Reading (Is 40, 9-11)
Thus says the Lord: Go up to a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up strongly and fear not. Say to the cities of Judah: Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God comes clothed with strength, and His arm shall rule. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. Like a shepherd He shall feed His flock; He shall gather the lambs in His arms and carry them in His bosom, He, the Lord our God.
📜IV Reading (Is 45, 1-8)
Thus says the Lord: To my anointed Cyrus, whom I have led by the hand to subdue nations before him, to put kings to flight and open doors before him, that none may be shut. I will go before you, I will humble the great ones of the earth, I will break the gates of brass and shatter the bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures and secret riches, that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my elect, I have called you by your name. And I have destined you to be a figure of Christ before you knew me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no God. I girded you with a sword and you did not know me, so that they may know, from the rising of the sun to its setting, that there is no God besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and send evils. I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down dew, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One; let the earth open and bring forth the Savior; and at the same time let justice spring up: I am the Lord and I have created it.
📜V Reading (Dn 3, 47-51)
In those days, the Angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his companions into the furnace, and driving the flames of fire out of the furnace, he made the midst of the furnace like a cool, whistling wind accompanied by dew. But the flames rose forty-nine cubits above the furnace, and breaking forth, burned those of the Chaldeans who were near the furnace, the king's servants who fed the fire. But the fire did not touch the three Hebrew youths at all, nor did it trouble them or cause them the least annoyance. Then these three, as with one voice, praised, glorified, and blessed God in the furnace.
✉️Epistle (II Thess 2, 1-8)
Brethren: We beseech you, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him, that you be not easily moved from your sense, nor be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come unless there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God. Do you not remember that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholds, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity is already at work, only he who now withholds will do so until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the breath of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.
📖Gospel (Lk 3, 1-6)
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord came unto John the son of Zachary in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: A voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
⛰️Interior preparation and the mystery of the voice in the wilderness
🌾The liturgy of this Ember Saturday, through its dense tapestry of prophetic readings and the testimony of John the Baptist, reveals that the coming of the Lord requires a profound rectification of the human soul. Saint John is the "voice" that prepares the arrival of the "Word," for, as the Doctor of the Church teaches, the voice is the temporary vehicle that carries the eternal Word to the hearts of men (St. Augustine, Sermon 293). The Gospel of Saint Luke historically situates the divine manifestation not in the palaces of Tiberius or Herod, but in the desert, indicating that God's grace flourishes where there is detachment and interior silence. The exhortation that "every valley shall be filled and every mountain brought low" symbolizes the work of humility that must level the irregularities of pride and faintheartedness. According to the Roman Missal, this day of fasting and supplication is also the time of ordinations, establishing a mystical connection between the sacrifice of the body and the self-giving of the new priests who, following the Baptist's example, must decrease so that Christ may increase. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians warns of the need for vigilance against apostasy and the mystery of iniquity, reminding us that preparation for Christmas is not merely a historical recollection but a readiness for the second coming of Christ in majesty. The Catechism teaches that the Church relives this expectation of John the Baptist by participating in the Advent liturgy, purifying itself to meet the Savior who comes both in the gentleness of the manger and in the purifying fire of Judgment. Therefore, the harmony between Isaiah's prophecies about the healing of the blind and the lame and the sacramental reality of ordinations demonstrates that the Church's Mission is to perpetuate the presence of the "Just One whom the clouds rain down," transforming the dryness of sin into springs of living water.
✨See English version of the critical articles here.
📜I Reading (Is 19, 20-22)
In those days, the peoples shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor. And He shall send them a Savior and a defender to deliver them. Then the Lord shall be known in Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; they shall worship Him with sacrifices and offerings, they shall make vows to the Lord and perform them. And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a plague and heal it, and they shall return to the Lord. And the Lord our God shall show Himself appeased to them and shall heal them.
📜II Reading (Is 35, 1-7)
These things says the Lord: The wilderness and the trackless land shall be glad, and the solitude shall exult and flower like a lily. It shall bud and germinate and exult with joy and praise. The glory of Lebanon has been given to it, and the beauty of Carmel and Sharon. They themselves shall see the glory of the Lord and the beauty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the trembling knees. Say to the fainthearted: Take courage and fear not; behold, your God comes, bringing vengeance and just retribution. God Himself will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then the lame man shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall be loosed. Waters shall break forth in the desert and torrents in the solitude. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land shall be turned into springs of water, says the Lord almighty.
📜III Reading (Is 40, 9-11)
Thus says the Lord: Go up to a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up strongly and fear not. Say to the cities of Judah: Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God comes clothed with strength, and His arm shall rule. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. Like a shepherd He shall feed His flock; He shall gather the lambs in His arms and carry them in His bosom, He, the Lord our God.
📜IV Reading (Is 45, 1-8)
Thus says the Lord: To my anointed Cyrus, whom I have led by the hand to subdue nations before him, to put kings to flight and open doors before him, that none may be shut. I will go before you, I will humble the great ones of the earth, I will break the gates of brass and shatter the bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures and secret riches, that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my elect, I have called you by your name. And I have destined you to be a figure of Christ before you knew me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no God. I girded you with a sword and you did not know me, so that they may know, from the rising of the sun to its setting, that there is no God besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and send evils. I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down dew, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One; let the earth open and bring forth the Savior; and at the same time let justice spring up: I am the Lord and I have created it.
📜V Reading (Dn 3, 47-51)
In those days, the Angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his companions into the furnace, and driving the flames of fire out of the furnace, he made the midst of the furnace like a cool, whistling wind accompanied by dew. But the flames rose forty-nine cubits above the furnace, and breaking forth, burned those of the Chaldeans who were near the furnace, the king's servants who fed the fire. But the fire did not touch the three Hebrew youths at all, nor did it trouble them or cause them the least annoyance. Then these three, as with one voice, praised, glorified, and blessed God in the furnace.
✉️Epistle (II Thess 2, 1-8)
Brethren: We beseech you, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him, that you be not easily moved from your sense, nor be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come unless there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God. Do you not remember that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholds, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity is already at work, only he who now withholds will do so until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the breath of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.
📖Gospel (Lk 3, 1-6)
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord came unto John the son of Zachary in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: A voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
⛰️Interior preparation and the mystery of the voice in the wilderness
🌾The liturgy of this Ember Saturday, through its dense tapestry of prophetic readings and the testimony of John the Baptist, reveals that the coming of the Lord requires a profound rectification of the human soul. Saint John is the "voice" that prepares the arrival of the "Word," for, as the Doctor of the Church teaches, the voice is the temporary vehicle that carries the eternal Word to the hearts of men (St. Augustine, Sermon 293). The Gospel of Saint Luke historically situates the divine manifestation not in the palaces of Tiberius or Herod, but in the desert, indicating that God's grace flourishes where there is detachment and interior silence. The exhortation that "every valley shall be filled and every mountain brought low" symbolizes the work of humility that must level the irregularities of pride and faintheartedness. According to the Roman Missal, this day of fasting and supplication is also the time of ordinations, establishing a mystical connection between the sacrifice of the body and the self-giving of the new priests who, following the Baptist's example, must decrease so that Christ may increase. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians warns of the need for vigilance against apostasy and the mystery of iniquity, reminding us that preparation for Christmas is not merely a historical recollection but a readiness for the second coming of Christ in majesty. The Catechism teaches that the Church relives this expectation of John the Baptist by participating in the Advent liturgy, purifying itself to meet the Savior who comes both in the gentleness of the manger and in the purifying fire of Judgment. Therefore, the harmony between Isaiah's prophecies about the healing of the blind and the lame and the sacramental reality of ordinations demonstrates that the Church's Mission is to perpetuate the presence of the "Just One whom the clouds rain down," transforming the dryness of sin into springs of living water.
✨See English version of the critical articles here.