Monday in the Octave of Pentecost, before they destroyed it
Introit: He fed them with the best of wheat, alleluia: and filled them with honey from the rock, alleluia, alleluia. Sing joyfully to God our strength; acclaim the God of Jacob.
Prayer: O God, Who gave the Holy Spirit to Your Apostles, grant to Your people the effect of their devout prayers, that on those to whom You have given faith, You may also bestow peace.
Offertory: The Lord thundered from heaven, the Most High gave forth His voice; and the fountains of waters appeared, alleluia.
Communion: The Holy Spirit will teach you, alleluia: whatever I have said to you, alleluia, alleluia.
Postcommunion: Be present to Your people, we beseech you, O Lord, and defend those whom you have nourished with heavenly mysteries from the fury of their enemies.
God wants us to pray for our needs. He wants us to be joyful in His strength. He wants to grant the effect of the prayers of the devoutly faithful, whose faith has been granted by Him through grace. He wants to thunder from heaven to our aid.
But to aid us in what way? To defend us from the fury of our worldly enemies, to be sure. But far greater than this, to aid us in attaining our heavenly reward, by SEEKING TRUTH. That’s the “whatever I have said to you” in the Communion verse. This truth is the One True Faith as laid down by Jesus Christ and disseminated by His apostles. The truth never changes because God never changes. For change to occur, the nature of thing must be different at one time than it is at another time. Since time is a construct created by God, and He exists outside of it, change for Him is impossible. That’s right, the omnipotent God was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be PERFECT.
So if you ever hear anyone, no matter their title, trying to tell you that you need to listen to the “spirit”, to be open to new ideas, to embrace the “surprises”, and to do so ESPECIALLY when they represent a clear break with how things were laid down and passed on for 2000 years, well, that person is in fact the enemy, attempting to inflict his fury upon you. And he is far worse than our worldy foes, because his fury is directed not at your mortal body, but at your eternal soul. Always it will be an appeal to the false doctrines of Times They Are A Changin’ and Things Are Different Nowadays, because today we have people in concrete situations to which it can no longer be said that God’s laws are anything more than lofty ideals.
For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. 2 Tim 4:3-4