Thursday 3rd Week of Advent; Ferial Day; Saint Olympias (410 A.D.); Saint Lazarus

 

SAINT LAZARUS

1st C. 

[Historical]

The disciple and friend of Jesus raised from the dead byJesus. He was the brother of Martha and Mary, and resided in Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem, Israel. No mention is made in the New Testament of his activities after being brought back to life, but several traditions survive. In one, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary go to France, where he became the first bishop of Marseilles, before being martyred. In other traditions, Lazarus and his sisters went to Cyprus, where he became bishop of Kition, or Lamaka. Still another legend reports that he went to Syria. His supposed relics were translated to Constantinople and numerous churches were built in his honor. Devotion to Lazarus was commonplace in the early Church.

SAINT OLYMPIA

FERIAL DAY

[Mass from Preceding Sunday]

INTROIT Philipp. 4:4-6 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety; but in every prayer let your petitions be made known to God.
Ps. 84:2. O Lord, You have blessed Your land; You have restored Jacob from captivity.V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT

Hear our prayers, O Lord, and enlighten the darkness of our minds by Your coming on earth; who lives and rules with God the Father . . . 

EPISTLE Philipp. 4:4-7

Brethren: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety, but in every prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God. And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

GRADUAL Ps. 79:2, 3, 2

O Lord, enthroned above the Cherubim, stir up Your might and come.
V. Take heed, you who rule Israel, you who are shepherd over Joseph.

Alleluia, alleluia! V.

Stir up Your might, O Lord, and come to save us.

Alleluia!

GOSPEL John 1:19-28

At that time, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask him: "Who art thou?" And he confessed and did not deny: and he confessed: "I am not the Christ." And they asked him: "What then? Art thou Elias?" And he said: "I am not." "Art thou the prophet? And he answered: "No." They said therefore unto him: "Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?" He said: "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias." And they that were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said to him: "Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?" John answered them, saying: "I baptize with water: but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not. The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose." These things were done in Bethania, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 84:2, 3

O Lord, You have blessed Your land; You have restored Jacob from captivity; You have forgiven the sinfulness of Your people.

SECRET 

May we always offer the sacrifice of adoration in such a manner, O Lord, that it will attain the purpose for which You instituted this sacred rite, and bring about our salvation. Through Our Lord . . .

COMMUNION ANTIPHON Isa. 35:4

Say to the fainthearted, "Take courage and fear not. Behold, our God will come and will save us."

POSTCOMMUNION

In Your mercy cleanse us from our sins by these divine Rites, O Lord, and make us ready for the coming feast. Through Our Lord . . .

SAINT OLYMPIA 
Widow 410A.D.
(Historical)

Saint Olympia, the glory of the widows in the Eastern Church, was born of a noble and illustrious family. Left an orphan at a tender age, she was brought up by Theodosia, sister of Saint Amphilochius, a virtuous and prudent woman. At the age of eighteen, Olympias was regarded as a model of Christian virtues. It was then that she was married to Nebridius, a young man worthy of her; the new spouses promised one another to live in perfect continence. After less than two years of this angelic union, Nebridius went to receive in heaven the reward of his virtues.

The Emperor would have engaged her in a second marriage, but she replied: “If God had destined me to live in the married state, He would not have taken my first spouse. The event which has broken my bonds shows me the way Providence has traced for me.” She had resolved to consecrate her life to prayer and penance, and to devote her fortune to the poor. She liberated all her slaves, who nonetheless wished to continue to serve her, and she administered her fortune as a trustee for the poor. The farthest cities, islands, deserts and poor churches found themselves blessed through her liberality.

Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, had a high esteem for the saintly widow and made her a deaconess of his church. The duties of deaconesses were to prepare the altar linens and instruct the catechumens of their sex; they aided the priests in works of charity, and they made a vow of perpetual chastity. When Saint John Chrysostom succeeded Nectarius, he had for Olympias no less respect than his predecessor, and through her aid he built a hospital for the sick and refuges for the elderly and orphans. When he was exiled in the year 404, he continued to encourage her in her good works by his letters, and she assisted him to ransom some of his fellow captives.

Saint Olympias, as one of his supporters, was persecuted. When she refused to deal with the usurper of the episcopal see, she was mistreated and calumniated, and her goods were sold at a public auction. Finally she, too, was banished with the entire community of nuns which she governed in Constantinople. Her illnesses added to her sufferings, but she never ceased her good works until her death in the year 410. She outlived the exiled Patriarch by about two or three years.