Wednesday 30 April 2025    (other days)
Saint Pius V, Pope 
 on Wednesday of the 2nd week of Eastertide

Using calendar: Malta. You can pick a diocese or region.

Office of Readings

If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.
INTRODUCTION
Deus, in adiutórium meum inténde.
  Dómine, ad adiuvándum me festína.
Glória Patri et Fílio*
  et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio et nunc et semper*
  et in sǽcula sæculórum.
Amen. Allelúia.
INTRODUCTION
O God, come to our aid.
  O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
  and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
  is now, and ever shall be,
  world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.
Hymnus
Christe, pastórum caput atque princeps,
géstiens huius celebráre festum,
débitas sacro pia turba psallit
cármine laudes,
Quas oves Petro déderas, ovíle
orbis ut totus fíeret sacrátum,
hic tuo nutu pósitus suprémo
cúlmine rexit.
Hic gregis ductor fuit atque forma,
lux erat cæco, mísero levámen,
próvidus cunctis pater omnibúsque
ómnia factus.
Christe, qui sanctis méritam corónam
reddis in cælis, dócili magístrum
fac sequi vita, similíque tandem
fine potíri.
Æqua laus summum célebret Paréntem
teque, Salvátor, pie rex, per ævum;
Spíritus Sancti résonet per omnem
glória mundum. Amen.
Hymn
Love’s redeeming work is done,
fought the fight, the battle won.
Lo, our Sun’s eclipse is o’er!
Lo, he sets in blood no more!
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal!
Christ has burst the gates of hell;
death in vain forbids him rise;
Christ has opened paradise.
Lives again our victor King;
where, O death, is now thy sting?
Dying once, he all doth save;
where thy victory, O grave?
Soar we now where Christ has led,
following our exalted Head;
made like him, like him we rise,
ours the cross, the grave, the skies.
Hail the Lord of earth and heaven!
Praise to thee by both be given:
thee we greet triumphant now;
hail, the Resurrection thou!

Ps 38:2-7
Ægrotantis deprecatio

“Vanitati creatura subiecta est ... propter eum qui subiecit eam in spe” (Rom 8, 20).

Ipsi intra nos gémimus, exspectántes redemptiónem córporis nostri.
2Dixi: «Custódiam vias meas,*
  ut non delínquam in lingua mea;
ponam ori meo custódiam,*
  donec consístit peccátor advérsum me».
3Tacens obmútui et sílui absque ullo bono,*
  et dolor meus renovátus est.
4Concáluit cor meum intra me,*
  et in meditatióne mea exársit ignis.
5Locútus sum in lingua mea:*
  «Notum fac mihi, Dómine, finem meum;
et númerum diérum meórum quis est,*
  ut sciam quam brevis sit vita mea».
6Ecce paucórum palmórum fecísti dies meos,*
  et spátium vitæ meæ tamquam níhilum ante te.
Etenim univérsa vánitas omnis homo constitútus est.*
  7Etenim ut imágo pertránsit homo.
Etenim vánitas est et concitátur;*
  thesaurízat et ignórat quis congregábit ea.
Glória Patri et Fílio*
  et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio et nunc et semper*
  et in sǽcula sæculórum.
Amen.
Ipsi intra nos gémimus, exspectántes redemptiónem córporis nostri.

Psalm 38 (39)
A prayer in sickness

We groan inwardly and await the redemption of our bodies.
I said, “I will watch my ways,
  I will try not to sin in my speech.
I will set a guard on my mouth,
  for as long as my enemies are standing against me.”
I stayed quiet and dumb, spoke neither evil nor good,
  but my pain was renewed.
My heart grew hot within me,
  and fire blazed in my thoughts.
Then I spoke out loud:
  “Lord, make me know my end.
Let me know the number of my days,
  so that I know how short my life is to be.”
All the length of my days is a handsbreadth or two,
  the expanse of my life is as nothing before you.
For in your sight all men are nothingness:
  man passes away, like a shadow.
Nothingness, although he is busy:
  he builds up treasure, but who will collect it?
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
  and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
  is now, and ever shall be,
  world without end.
Amen.
We groan inwardly and await the redemption of our bodies.

How to listen

Ps 38:8-14

Exáudi oratiónem meam, Dómine; pércipe lácrimas meas.
8Et nunc quæ est exspectátio mea, Dómine?*
  Spes mea apud te est.
9Ab ómnibus iniquitátibus meis érue me,*
  oppróbrium insipiénti ne ponas me.
10Obmútui et non apériam os meum,*
  quóniam tu fecísti.
11Amove a me plagas tuas:*
  ab ictu manus tuæ ego deféci.
12In increpatiónibus, propter iniquitátem, corripuísti hóminem,†
  et tabéscere fecísti sicut tínea desiderabília eius.*
  Etenim vánitas omnis homo.
13Exáudi oratiónem meam, Dómine,*
  et clamórem meum áuribus pércipe.
Ad lácrimas meas ne obsurdéscas,†
  quóniam ádvena ego sum apud te,*
  peregrínus sicut omnes patres mei.
14Avértere a me, ut refrígerer,*
  priúsquam ábeam et non sim ámplius.
Glória Patri et Fílio*
  et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio et nunc et semper*
  et in sǽcula sæculórum.
Amen.
Exáudi oratiónem meam, Dómine; pércipe lácrimas meas.

Psalm 38 (39)

Lord, hear my prayer: do not be deaf to my tears.
What, now, can I look forward to, Lord?
  My hope is in you.
Rescue me from all my sins,
  do not make me a thing for fools to laugh at.
I have sworn to be dumb, I will not open my mouth:
  for it is at your hands that I am suffering.
Aim your blows away from me,
  for I am crushed by the weight of your hand.
You rebuke and chastise us for our sins.
Like the moth you consume all we desire
  – for all men are nothingness.
Listen, Lord, to my prayer:
  turn your ear to my cries.
Do not be deaf to my weeping,
  for I come as a stranger before you,
  a wanderer like my fathers before me.
Turn away from me, give me respite,
  before I leave this world,
  before I am no more.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
  and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
  is now, and ever shall be,
  world without end.
Amen.
Lord, hear my prayer: do not be deaf to my tears.

Ps 51:3-11
Contra calumniatorem

“Qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur” (1 Cor 1, 31).

Ego autem sperávi in misericórdia Dei in ætérnum, allelúia.
3Quid gloriáris in malítia,*
  qui potens es iniquitáte?
4Tota die insídias cogitásti;*
  lingua tua sicut novácula acúta, qui facis dolum.
5Dilexísti malítiam super benignitátem,†
  mendácium magis quam loqui æquitátem.*
  6Dilexísti ómnia verba perditiónis, lingua dolósa.
7Proptérea Deus déstruet te in finem;†
  evéllet te et emigrábit te de tabernáculo*
  et radícem tuam de terra vivéntium.
8Vidébunt iusti et timébunt*
  et super eum ridébunt:
«9Ecce homo, qui non pósuit Deum refúgium suum,†
  sed sperávit in multitúdine divitiárum suárum*
  et præváluit in insídiis suis».
10Ego autem sicut virens olíva in domo Dei.†
  Sperávi in misericórdia Dei*
  in ætérnum et in sǽculum sǽculi.
11Confitébor tibi in sǽculum, quia fecísti;†
  et exspectábo nomen tuum, quóniam bonum est,*
  in conspéctu sanctórum tuórum.
Glória Patri et Fílio*
  et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio et nunc et semper*
  et in sǽcula sæculórum.
Amen.
Ego autem sperávi in misericórdia Dei in ætérnum, allelúia.

Psalm 51 (52)
Against calumny

I trust in the goodness of God for ever and ever. Alleluia.
Why do you take pride in your malice,
  you expert in evil-doing?
All day long you plan your traps,
  your tongue is sharp as a razor –
  you master of deceit!
You have chosen malice over kindness;
  you speak lies rather than the truth;
  your tongue is in love with every deceit.
For all this, in the end God will destroy you.
  He will tear you out and expel you from your dwelling,
  uproot you from the land of the living.
The upright will see and be struck with awe:
  they will deride the evil-doer.
“Here is the man who did not make God his refuge,
  but put his hope in the abundance of his riches
  and in the power of his stratagems.”
But I flourish like an olive in the palace of God.
  I hope in the kindness of God,
  for ever, and through all ages.
I shall praise you for all time for what you have done.
  I shall put my hope in your name and in its goodness
  in the sight of your chosen ones.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
  and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
  is now, and ever shall be,
  world without end.
Amen.
I trust in the goodness of God for ever and ever. Alleluia.
℣. Audies de ore meo verbum, allelúia.
℟. Et annuntiábis eis ex me, allelúia.
℣. You will hear the word from my mouth, alleluia.
℟. You will speak to them in my name. Alleluia.
Lectio prior
De libro Apocalýpsis beáti Ioánnis apóstoli 2, 12-29

Ad Ecclesias Pergami et Thyatiræ

Ego Ioánnes audívi Dóminum dicéntem mihi:
  12Angelo ecclésiæ, quæ est Pérgami, scribe:
  Hæc dicit, qui habet romphǽam ancípitem acútam: 13Scio, ubi hábitas, ubi thronus est Sátanæ, et tenes nomen meum et non negásti fidem meam et in diébus Antípas, testis meus fidélis, qui occísus est apud vos, ubi Sátanas hábitat. 14Sed hábeo advérsus te pauca, quia habes illic tenéntes doctrínam Bálaam, qui docébat Balac míttere scándalum coram fíliis Israel, édere idolothýta et fornicári; 15ita habes et tu tenéntes doctrínam Nicolaitárum simíliter. 16Ergo pæniténtiam age; si quo minus, vénio tibi cito et pugnábo cum illis in gládio oris mei.
  17Qui habet aurem, áudiat quid Spíritus dicat ecclésiis. Vincénti dabo ei de manna abscóndito et dabo illi cálculum cándidum, et in cálculo nomen novum scriptum, quod nemo scit, nisi qui áccipit.
  18Et ángelo ecclésiæ, quæ est Thyatíræ, scribe:
  Hæc dicit Fílius Dei, qui habet óculos ut flammam ignis, et pedes eius símiles orichálco: 19Novi ópera tua et caritátem et fidem et ministérium et patiéntiam tuam et ópera tua novíssima plura prióribus. 20Sed hábeo advérsus te, quia permíttis mulíerem Iézabel, quæ se dicit prophetíssam, et docet et sedúcit servos meos fornicári et manducáre idolothýta. 21Et dedi illi tempus, ut pæniténtiam ágeret, et non vult pænitéri a fornicatióne sua. 22Ecce mitto eam in lectum et, qui mœchántur cum ea, in tribulatiónem magnam, nisi pæniténtiam égerint ab opéribus eius. 23Et fílios eius interfíciam in morte, et scient omnes ecclésiæ quia ego sum scrutans renes et corda, et dabo unicuíque vestrum secúndum ópera vestra. 24Vobis autem dico céteris, qui Thyatíræ estis, quicúmque non habent doctrínam hanc, qui non cognovérunt altitúdines Sátanæ, quemádmodum dicunt, non mittam super vos áliud pondus; 25tamen id, quod habétis, tenéte, donec véniam. 26Et, qui vícerit et qui custodíerit usque in finem ópera mea, dabo illi potestátem super gentes,
  27et reget illas in virga férrea,
  tamquam vasa fictília confringéntur,
  28sicut et ego accépi a Patre meo, et dabo illi stellam matutínam.
  29Qui habet aurem, áudiat quid Spíritus dicat ecclésiis.
First Reading
Apocalypse 2:12-29

To the churches at Pergamum and Thyatira

Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum and say, “Here is the message of the one who has the sharp sword, double-edged: I know where you live, in the place where Satan is enthroned, and that you still hold firmly to my name, and did not disown your faith in me even when my faithful witness, Antipas, was killed in your own town, where Satan lives.
  “Nevertheless, I have one or two complaints to make: some of you are followers of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap for the Israelites so that they committed adultery by eating food that had been sacrificed to idols; and among you, too, there are some as bad who accept what the Nicolaitans teach. You must repent, or I shall soon come to you and attack these people with the sword out of my mouth. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: to those who prove victorious I will give the hidden manna and a white stone – a stone with a new name written on it, known only to the man who receives it.”
  Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira and say, “Here is the message of the Son of God who has eyes like a burning flame and feet like burnished bronze: I know all about you and how charitable you are; I know your faith and devotion and how much you put up with, and I know how you are still making progress. Nevertheless, I have a complaint to make: you are encouraging the woman Jezebel who claims to be a prophetess, and by her teaching she is luring my servants away to commit the adultery of eating food which has been sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to reform but she is not willing to change her adulterous life. Now I am consigning her to bed, and all her partners in adultery to troubles that will test them severely, unless they repent of their practices; and I will see that her children die, so that all the churches realise that it is I who search heart and loins and give each one of you what your behaviour deserves.
  “But on the rest of you in Thyatira, all of you who have not accepted this teaching or learnt the secrets of Satan, as they are called, I am not laying any special duty; but hold firmly on to what you already have until I come. To those who prove victorious, and keep working for me until the end, I will give the authority over the pagans which I myself have been given by my Father, to rule them with an iron sceptre and shatter them like earthenware. And I will give him the Morning Star. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
Responsorium
Ap 2, 18 b. 23 b; 22, 12 a
℟. Hæc dicit Fílius Dei, qui habet óculos ut flammam ignis: Ego sum scrutans renes et corda,* Et dabo unicuíque vestrum secúndum ópera vestra, allelúia.
℣. Ecce vénio cito, et merces mea mecum est.* Et dabo.
Responsory
Rv 2:18,23, 22:12
℟. This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes blaze like fire: I am he who knows men’s thoughts and wishes.* I will repay each one of you according to what you have done, alleluia.
℣. I am coming soon! I will bring my reward with me.* I will repay each one of you according to what you have done, alleluia.
Lectio altera
Ex Tractátibus sancti Augustíni epíscopi in Ioánnem (Tract. 124, 5: CCL 36, 684-685)

Ecclesia fundata est super Petram, quam confessus est Petrus

Præter ália solácia miserórum, quæ géneri humáno præbére non cessat Deus, in plenitúdine témporis, quo ipse sciébat hoc esse faciéndum, misit Fílium suum unigénitum, per quem creávit univérsa, ut manens Deus fíeret homo et esset mediátor Dei et hóminum, homo Christus Iesus.
  In quem credéntes per lavácrum regeneratiónis solúto reátu ómnium peccatórum, liberaréntur a damnatióne perpétua et víverent in fide et spe et caritáte, peregrinántes in hoc sǽculo atque in eius tentatiónibus laboriósis et periculósis, consolatiónibus autem Dei et corporálibus et spiritálibus ambulárent ad conspéctum eius, viam tenéntes quod eis factus est Christus.
  Et quia in ipso quoque ambulántes non sunt sine peccátis, quæ de huius vitæ infirmitáte subrépunt, dedit eleemosynárum remédia salutária, quibus eórum adiuvarétur orátio, ubi eos dícere dócuit: Dimítte nobis débita nostra, sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris.
  Hoc agit Ecclésia spe beáta in hac vita ærumnósa, cuius Ecclésiæ Petrus apóstolus, propter apostolátus sui primátum, gerébat figuráta generalitáte persónam.
  Quod enim ad ipsum próprie pértinet, natúra unus homo erat, grátia unus christiánus, abundantióre grátia unus idémque primus Apóstolus; sed quando ei dictum est: Tibi dabo claves regni cælórum, et quodcúmque ligáveris super terram erit ligátum et in cælis, et quodcúmque sólveris super terram erit solútum et in cælis, univérsam significábat Ecclésiam, quæ in hoc sǽculo divérsis tentatiónibus velut ímbribus, flumínibus, tempestátibus quátitur, et non cadit, quóniam fundáta est super petram, unde Petrus nomen accépit.
  Ideo quippe ait Dóminus: Super hanc petram ædificábo Ecclésiam meam, quia díxerat Petrus: Tu es Christus Fílius Dei vivi. Super hanc ergo, inquit, petram, quam conféssus es, ædificábo Ecclésiam meam. Petra enim erat Christus; super quod fundaméntum étiam ipse ædificátus est Petrus. Fundaméntum quippe áliud nemo potest pónere præter id quod pósitum est, quod est Christus Iesus.
  Ecclésia ergo, quæ fundátur in Christo, claves ab eo regni cælórum accépit in Petro, id est potestátem ligándi solvendíque peccáta. Hæc ígitur Ecclésia, amándo et sequéndo Christum, liberátur a malis. Magis autem séquitur in eis, qui certant pro veritáte usque ad mortem.
Second Reading
From a treatise on John by St Augustine

The Church is founded upon the rock which Peter acknowledged

God never ceases to provide the human race with consolations in misfortune. But in addition to these, in the fullness of time, when he himself knew it should be done, he sent his own only-begotten Son through whom he created all things. While remaining God, his Son was to become man and be the mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.
  Those who believed in him through baptism were freed from the guilt of all their sins, freed from eternal damnation to live in faith, hope and love. On their journey among the trials and dangers of this world, they received the consolations of God, both in body and in spirit. They were to walk in his sight, keeping to the path which Christ made for them.
  But even while walking on this path they were not without sin, since it develops subtly out of human weakness. Therefore Christ gave the saving remedy of charity to help them in their prayers, for he taught them to say: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
  Such is the practice which the Church in blessed hope carries out in this life of suffering. Now the apostle Peter, because of the primacy of his apostleship, stood as a symbol of the entire Church.
  In himself he was by nature one man, by grace one Christian, by a more abundant grace an apostle and the chief of the apostles. But Christ said to him: To you I shall give the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you will bind upon the earth will be bound also in heaven and whatever you will forgive upon the earth will be forgiven also in heaven. Now these words applied to the entire Church. In this life it is shaken by various trials, as if by rains, floods and tempests, but it does not fall because it is founded upon the rock from which Peter received his name.
  The Lord said: Upon this rock I shall build my Church because Peter has first said: You are Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord was really saying: I shall build my Church upon the rock which you have acknowledged. For the rock was Christ, and upon this foundation even Peter himself was raised up. Another foundation indeed no one can lay except that which was laid, which is Jesus Christ.
  The Church, which is founded upon Christ, received from him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that is, the power of binding and forgiving sins, in the person of Peter. Therefore this Church, by loving and following Christ, is set free from evil. But this is even more the case with those who fight on behalf of truth even to the death.
Responsorium
Ez 3, 21; 1 Tim 4, 16
℟. Si tu commonúeris iustum ut non peccet, et ille non peccáverit, vivens vivet;* Et tu ánimam tuam liberásti, allelúia.
℣. Atténde tibi et doctrínæ; et teípsum salvum fácies, et eos qui te áudiunt* Et tu.
Responsory
℟. If you warn the upright man not to sin and he abstains from sinning, he shall live,* and you too will have saved your life, alleluia.
℣. Take great care about what you do and what you teach, and you will save both yourself and those who listen to you,* and you too will have saved your life, alleluia.
Oremus.
  Deus, qui in Ecclésia tua beátum Pium, papam, ad fidem tuéndam ac te dígnius coléndum próvidus excitásti, da nobis, ipso intercedénte, vívida fide ac fructuósa caritáte mysteriórum tuórum esse partícipes.
Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum,
qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus,
per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
Amen.
Let us pray.
Lord God, in your providence you called Pope Saint Pius
  to defend the faith
  and to enhance the dignity of divine worship.
Give us grace, through his prayer,
  to worship you in your sacred mysteries
  with an ardent faith and an active charity.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Benedicámus Dómino.
– Deo grátias.
Let us praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.

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