Universalis
Saturday 7 January 2023    (other days)
7 January 
 or Saint Raymond of Penyafort, Priest 

Using calendar: Middle East. You can choose a country.

Christ has appeared to us: come, let us adore him.

Year: A(I). Psalm week: 2. Liturgical Colour: White.

St Raymond of Peñafort (c.1175 - 1275)

He was born near Barcelona somewhere between 1175 and 1180. He was educated at the University of Barcelona, where he taught canon law for fifteen years. After a spell at the University of Bologna he returned to Barcelona in 1222 and became a Dominican. At the command of Pope Gregory IX he organised, codified and edited canon law, which, when he started, was nothing better than a chaotic accumulation of isolated decrees. He was elected to be General of the Dominicans and gave the order an excellent set of regulations for its better governance. He died in 1275. Among his works, the Summa casuum is noteworthy. This gives guidance as to how the sacrament of Penance may be administered justly and with benefit to the penitent. See the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.

Other saints: St André Bessette (1845 - 1937)

Canada: 7 Jan
United States: 6 Jan
He was born in Québec and joined the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1872: the parish priest sent this functionally illiterate, frail young man to the Congregation with the words “I am sending you a saint”.
  He had great confidence in Saint Joseph and recommended prayer to him to all who were sick. So many were cured that Brother André himself was acclaimed as a miracle-worker, and when he died on 6 January 1937, a million people filed past his coffin. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 17 October 2010. See the article in Wikipedia.

About the author of the Second Reading in today's Office of Readings:

Second Reading: St Peter Chrysologus (380 - 450)

Peter was born and died in Imola in northern Italy. He was made bishop of Ravenna, the new capital of the Roman Empire, and was responsible for many of the building works there. The name “Chrysologus” means “golden speech”, and was given to Peter because he was such a gifted preacher; unfortunately, most of his writings have perished, and only a collection of short sermons remains.

Liturgical colour: white

White is the colour of heaven. Liturgically, it is used to celebrate feasts of the Lord; Christmas and Easter, the great seasons of the Lord; and the saints. Not that you will always see white in church, because if something more splendid, such as gold, is available, that can and should be used instead. We are, after all, celebrating.
  In the earliest centuries all vestments were white – the white of baptismal purity and of the robes worn by the armies of the redeemed in the Apocalypse, washed white in the blood of the Lamb. As the Church grew secure enough to be able to plan her liturgy, she began to use colour so that our sense of sight could deepen our experience of the mysteries of salvation, just as incense recruits our sense of smell and music that of hearing. Over the centuries various schemes of colour for feasts and seasons were worked out, and it is only as late as the 19th century that they were harmonized into their present form.

Mid-morning reading (Terce)Deuteronomy 4:7 ©
What great nation is there that has its gods so near as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him?

Noon reading (Sext)Isaiah 12:5-6 ©
Sing of the Lord, for he has done marvellous things, let them be made known to the whole world. Cry out for joy and gladness, you dwellers in Zion, for great in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

Afternoon reading (None)(Tobit 14:6-8) ©
And all the people of the whole earth will be converted and will fear God with all sincerity and renounce their false gods. They will bless the God of the ages by upright conduct. All the Israelites spared in those days will remember God in sincerity of heart and will come and gather in Jerusalem. And those who sincerely love God will rejoice.

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Scripture readings taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. For on-line information about other Random House, Inc. books and authors, see the Internet web site at http://www.randomhouse.com.
 
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