Quasimodo (Low) Sunday
Introit (1 Peter 2:2) As newborn babes, alleluia, desire the rational milk without guile, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Psalm. Rejoice to God our Helper; sing aloud to the God of Jacob. ℣. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. — As newborn babes …
Collect Grant, we beseech, almighty God, that we who have celebrated the Paschal Feast, may, by Your bounty, retain its fruits in our daily habits and behaviour. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
Epistle (I John 5:4-10) Dearly beloved: What is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory, which overcomes the world, our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ: not by water only, but by water and blood. The Spirit testifies that Christ is the truth. And there are three who give testimony in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that give testimony on earth: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three are one. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater: for this is the testimony of God, which is greater, because He has testified of His Son. He that believes in the Son of God has the testimony of God in himself.
Alleluia Alleluia, alleluia, (Matthew 28:7) On the day of My Resurrection, says the Lord, I will go before you into Galilee. Alleluia. (John 20:26) After eight days, the doors being shut, Jesus stood in the midst of His disciples and said: Peace be to you. Alleluia.
The Gospel (John 20:19-31) At that time, when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came, and stood in the midst and said to them: “Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.
The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. He said therefore to them again: “Peace be with you.” As the Father has sent me, I also send you. When He had said this, He breathed on them, and He said to them: “Receive the Holy Ghost: whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.”
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples said to him: “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them: “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
And after eight days, again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: “Peace be with you.” Then He says to Thomas: “Put in your finger here, and see My hands, and bring here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him: “My Lord and my God.” Jesus said to him: “Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.” Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, you may have life in His Name.
Offertory (Matthew 28:2, 5, 6) An angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and said to the women: He whom you seek is risen, as He said, alleluia.
The Secret Receive, we beseech You, O Lord, the gifts of Your exultant Church: and to whom you have given cause for so great joy, grant the fruit of perpetual happiness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ …
Communion (John 20:27) Put in your hand, and know the place of the nails, alleluia; and be not faithless, but believing, alleluia, alleluia.
Post-Communion We beg You, O Lord our God, that these sacred and holy mysteries which you have given us to safeguard our rebirth, may be for us a remedy both now and in the future. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son …
1 Peter 2: “The Rational Milk”
The Introit for this week uses a word which was comparatively well-used in the ancient liturgies, but which has disappeared from modern writing in this sense: the word is “rational”, and the sense is “belonging to the supernatural Word of God.” The milk it means is of course the teaching of the Gospel. It is “rational”, in the original Greek, logikos because it belongs to the Logos, which is Our Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the Word of God (see John 1). So, if one substituted the name “Jesus” for “the Word”, one would have 1 Peter 2 reading: “As newborn babes, alleluia, desire the Jesus milk (which is) without guile (deceit), alleluia, alleluia, alleluia”.
How can milk have guile, or be a milk of deceit? Easy: we intellectually and emotionally live on our culture. We drink the milk of guile every day in our culture with its “news”, “culture” and “advertisements”. The news is so often “fake news”: both in the sense that what is said is untrue (e.g. the coverage of the boys from the Covington High School), and in the sense that what is reported is in fact of no interest to a reasonable human being (e.g. what some high-paid Hollywood personality thinks about things) while what should be reported (e.g. the large rallies which take place for Catholic and Pro-Life causes) are ignored. Our culture is increasingly becoming dominated by a political ideology which does not allow contrary opinions to be heard, or even purely moral and ethical viewpoints to be raised if they do not take what is considered to be the “correct” political line. The evil work of advertisements is better known, but even today it is just as pervading as it has ever been, programming and conditioning the most vulnerable among us to purchase rubbishy products, and with it, to adopt an attitude of “I deserve this”.
We need to insist upon a Catholic culture in our homes: to not watch anything on our screens which is blasphemous, sacrilegious, or even vulgar. Our culture is not just something we are passive before, it is also something which we make in the way we speak, do not speak, act or refrain from acting. Take our speech, for example, it is a huge subject, but here is a useful table prepared by Fr Paul Robinson and used with his permission:
| Sin of the tongue | Meaning | Gravity |
| Taking God’s name in vain | The name of God or of Jesus Christ is used without reverence | Ordinarily, it is a venial sin. |
| Profanity | The use of irreverent language | It is sinful, using sacred names in jest, impatience, surprise, or habit, with no idea of paying God honour. |
| Vulgarity | The use of coarse expressions like “devil”, “bloody hell”. | Not necessarily sinful, but is if used with malice; can lead to profanity |
| Cursing | The calling down of some evil on a person, place, or thing
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A Christian should never curse. It is an indication of a lack of self-control. |
| Blasphemy | Insulting language which expresses contempt for God, either directly or through His saints and holy things | Deliberate blasphemy is one of the gravest sins. By it, one offends God directly. |
