Universalis
Wednesday 6 December 2023    (other days)
Wednesday of the 1st week of Advent 
 or Saint Nicholas, Bishop 

Using calendar: England - Portsmouth - Hampshire - Winchester. You can change this.

Let us adore the Lord, the King who is to come.

Year: B(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Violet.

St Nicholas

He was bishop of Myra, in Lycia (now part of Turkey) and died about the middle of the fourth century. He has been venerated throughout the Church, especially since the 10th century. Because of his help to the poor he is the patron saint of pawnbrokers, whose insignia of three golden balls represent the three purses of gold he is said to have given secretly to a poor man who could not afford dowries for his three daughters. See the article in Wikipedia.

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

Second Reading: St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153)

Bernard was born near Dijon, in France, in 1090, of a noble family. In 1112 he joined the new monastery at Cîteaux. This had been founded fourteen years before, in a bid to reject the laxity and riches of much of the Benedictine Order of the time (as exemplified by the great monasteries such as Cluny) and to return to a primitive poverty and austerity of life.
  Bernard arrived at Cîteaux with four of his five brothers and two dozen friends. Within three years he had been sent out to found a new monastery at Clairvaux, in Champagne, where he remained abbot for the rest of his life. By the time of his death, the Cistercian Order (“the Order of Cîteaux”) had grown from one house to 343, of which 68 were daughter houses of Clairvaux itself.
  Bernard was a man of great holiness and wisdom, and although he was often in very poor health, he was active in many of the great public debates of the time. He strongly opposed the luxurious lives of some of the clergy, and fought against the persecution of the Jews. He was also a prolific writer, and the Liturgy of the Hours uses extracts from many of his sermons.

Liturgical colour: violet

Violet is a dark colour, ‘the gloomy cast of the mortified, denoting affliction and melancholy’. Liturgically, it is the colour of Advent and Lent, the seasons of penance and preparation.
Mid-morning reading (Terce)Isaiah 2:11 ©
Human pride will lower its eyes, the arrogance of men will be humbled. The Lord alone will be exalted, on that day.
Noon reading (Sext)Isaiah 12:2 ©
See now, he is the God of my salvation. I have trust now and no fear, for the Lord is my strength, my song, he is my salvation.
Afternoon reading (None)Daniel 9:19 ©
Listen, Lord! Lord, forgive! Hear, Lord, and act! For your own sake, my God, do not delay, because they bear your name, this is your city, this is your people.

Christian Art

Illustration

Each day, The Christian Art website gives a picture and reflection on the Gospel of the day.

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Office of Readings for 1st Wednesday of Advent

Morning Prayer for 1st Wednesday of Advent

Evening Prayer for 1st Wednesday of Advent

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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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