🎼Introit
s. Gaudeámus omnes in Dómino, diem festum celebrántes sub honóre beáti Thomæ Mártyris: de cujus passióne gaudent Angeli et colláudant Fílium Dei. Ps. 32, 1. Exsultáte, justi, in Dómino: rec tos decet collaudátio.
Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honor of the Blessed Thomas the Martyr: at whose passion the Angels rejoice, and give praise to the Son of God. Ps. 32, 1. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just: praise becometh the upright.
✉️Epistle (Heb 5, 1-6)
Brethren: Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on them that are ignorant and that err: because he himself also is compassed with infirmity: and therefore he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. Neither doth any man take the honor to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. So Christ also did not glorify himself that he might be made a high priest, but he that said unto him: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place: Thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech.
✝️Gospel (John 10, 11-16)
At that time: Jesus said to the Pharisees: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth and scattereth the sheep: and the hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd: and I know mine, and mine know me. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep. And other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
🛡️The blood of the Shepherd for the freedom of the flock
🕯️The liturgy of this day, situated within the Octave of Christmas, confronts us with the bloody reality of martyrdom through the figure of the "Good Shepherd" who, unlike the hireling, does not flee before ravenous wolves but offers his own life for the integrity of the fold. Saint Thomas Becket perfectly embodies the doctrine exposed in the Epistle to the Hebrews: a high priest taken from among men, knowing human infirmity, yet called by God to defend divine rights against temporal interference. Saint Augustine, in his treatises on the Gospel of John, illuminates this fundamental distinction by stating that the hireling is he who seeks his own interests in the Church and not those of Jesus Christ; he flees not by changing place, but by remaining silent in the face of injustice, for fear stifles his voice (In Ioann. Tract. 46). Thomas, on the contrary, broke the complacent silence and confronted royal power not out of pride, but out of the charity that endures all things for the Truth. His death at the altar of the cathedral is the consummation of the priestly sacrifice, where the offerer becomes the offering itself, uniting with Christ, the Supreme Pontiff, who did not glorify Himself but was begotten for eternal sacrifice. Becket's martyrdom teaches that true Christmas peace is not the absence of worldly conflicts, but the unbreakable fidelity to the order of Melchizedek, which prioritizes the law of God over the whims of Caesars, ensuring that even if the shepherd is struck, the spiritual flock remains united in the Truth that sets us free.
🇺🇸See English version of the critical articles here.
✉️Epistle (Heb 5, 1-6)
Brethren: Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on them that are ignorant and that err: because he himself also is compassed with infirmity: and therefore he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. Neither doth any man take the honor to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. So Christ also did not glorify himself that he might be made a high priest, but he that said unto him: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place: Thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech.
✝️Gospel (John 10, 11-16)
At that time: Jesus said to the Pharisees: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth and scattereth the sheep: and the hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd: and I know mine, and mine know me. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep. And other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
🛡️The blood of the Shepherd for the freedom of the flock
🕯️The liturgy of this day, situated within the Octave of Christmas, confronts us with the bloody reality of martyrdom through the figure of the "Good Shepherd" who, unlike the hireling, does not flee before ravenous wolves but offers his own life for the integrity of the fold. Saint Thomas Becket perfectly embodies the doctrine exposed in the Epistle to the Hebrews: a high priest taken from among men, knowing human infirmity, yet called by God to defend divine rights against temporal interference. Saint Augustine, in his treatises on the Gospel of John, illuminates this fundamental distinction by stating that the hireling is he who seeks his own interests in the Church and not those of Jesus Christ; he flees not by changing place, but by remaining silent in the face of injustice, for fear stifles his voice (In Ioann. Tract. 46). Thomas, on the contrary, broke the complacent silence and confronted royal power not out of pride, but out of the charity that endures all things for the Truth. His death at the altar of the cathedral is the consummation of the priestly sacrifice, where the offerer becomes the offering itself, uniting with Christ, the Supreme Pontiff, who did not glorify Himself but was begotten for eternal sacrifice. Becket's martyrdom teaches that true Christmas peace is not the absence of worldly conflicts, but the unbreakable fidelity to the order of Melchizedek, which prioritizes the law of God over the whims of Caesars, ensuring that even if the shepherd is struck, the spiritual flock remains united in the Truth that sets us free.
🇺🇸See English version of the critical articles here.