De siste dagene før jul (f.o.m. 17/12) har egne messer, her er bønner og antifoner i dagens messe – 23/12:

Inngangsvers
Et barn skal fødes for oss, og han skal kalles mektig Gud; i ham skal alle jordens slekter velsignes. Kfr. Jes 9,6, Sal 72 (71),17

Kirkebønn
Allmektige, evige Gud, festen for din Sønns fødsel er nær. Derfor ber vi deg: La oss, dine uverdige tjenere, finne miskunn hos ditt Ord, som ble kjød i Jomfru Maria og reiste sin bolig iblant oss, han som lever og råder …

Bønn over offergavene
Herre, la dette offer som rommer fylden av vår tilbedelse, bringe oss forsoning med deg, så vi med rent hjerte kan feire vår Frelsers fødsel, han som lever og råder fra evighet til evighet.

Adventsprefasjon II

Kommunionsvers
Se, jeg står for døren og banker på, og til den som hører min røst og åpner døren, vil jeg tre inn og holde nattverd jeg med ham og han med meg. Åp 3,20

Slutningsbønn
Herre, vi er blitt mettet med din guddommelige gave. Gi oss din fred og forsoning, så vi blir rede til å løpe din elskede Sønn i møte med brennende lamper når han kommer, Kristus, vår Herre.

Fordi du har sett meg, Thomas, tror du; salige er de som ikke har sett, men (likevel) tror.

Slik (over) var antifonen til Benedictus i dag, og under ser man Matutins fjerde lesning:

The Apostle Thomas, called Didymus, or the Twin, was a Galilean. After the descent of the Holy Ghost, he went into many provinces to preach Christ’s Gospel. He gave knowledge of the rules of Christian faith and life to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, and Bactrians. He went last to the East Indies. Here he provoked the anger of one of the idolatrous kings, because the holiness of his life and teaching, and the number of his miracles, drew many after him, and brought them to the love of Christ Jesus. He was therefore condemned, and slain with lances. He crowned the dignity of the Apostleship with the glory of martyrdom, on the Coromandel coast, not far from Madras.

Fra Prim i de tradisjonelle tidebønnene (dagen før, martyrologiet er alltid ‘anticipert’, uten at jeg vet hvorfor):

December 14th anno Domini 2011 (the 19th Day of Moon) were born into the better life:

At Alexandria, (in the year 250,) the holy martyrs Heron, Arsenius, and Isidore, and a lad Dioscorus. In the persecution under the Emperor Decius the judge caused Heron, Arsenius, and Isidore to be lacerated with divers torments, and, when he saw them to be all equally steadfast, to be burnt. Dioscorus was heavily whipped, but God was pleased that, for the comfort of the faithful, he should then be set at liberty.
At Antioch, the holy martyrs Drusus, Zosimus, and Theodore.
Upon the same day, (in the year 284,) the holy martyrs Justus and Abundius. Under Olybrius the President, in the persecution under the Emperor Numerian, they were cast into the fire, and when they appeared thence unburnt, they were beheaded.
At Rheims, the holy martyrs Nicasius, Bishop, (in the year 400,) of that see the Virgin Eutropia, his sister, and their Companions, who were slain by the savage enemies of the Church (in the year 407.) In the island of Cyprus the blessed Spiridion, Bishop (of Tremithos) he was one of those Confessors whose right eyes were put out and their left thighs hamstrung, and were condemned to penal servitude in the mines by the Emperor Galerius Maximian. He was illustrious for the gift of prophecy, and the fame of miracles, and at the Council of Nice, (held in 325,) he confuted and converted to the faith a heathen philosopher who attacked the Christian religion, (and died after the year 347.)
At Bergamo, the holy Confessor Viator, Bishop (of that see.)
At Pavia, holy Pompey, Bishop (of that see.)
At Naples, in Campania, (in the year 596,) holy Agnello, Abbat (at Naples,) famous for the grace of miracles, who, when the city had been beleaguered, had often been seen with a flag marked with a cross, delivering it from the enemy.
At Ubeda, in Spain, the holy Confessor John of the Cross (died in 1591) a companion of holy Teresa in reforming the Carmelites, whose feast is kept upon the 24th day of November.
At Milan, the holy Hermit Matronian.

Slik leste jeg i dag til Matutin, om den hellige Lucia (286-304):

Lucy a virgin of Syracuse, noble by birth and by her Christian faith, went to the tomb of St. Agatha at Catania and obtained the cure for her mother, Eutichia who was suffering from a hemorrhage. Soon after, she gained her mother’s permission to distribute to the poor all the possessions which were to have served as her dowry. As a result of this charitable action, she was accused of being a Christian and brought before Paschasius the Prefect. When neither promises nor threats could induce her to sacrifice the idols, Paschasius became enraged and commanded Lucy to be taken to a place where her virginity would be violated. But the power of God gave the virgin a strength that matched the firmness of her resolution, so that no force could move her where she stood. And so the prefect commanded a fire to be kindled all around here, but the flames did not harm her. After she had suffered many torments, therefore her throat was pierced through with a sword. So wounded she foretold that the Church would have peace after the deaths of Diocletian and Maximilian, and on December 13 she gave up her spirit, to God. Her body was first buried at Syracuse, than taken to Constantinople, and finally transferred to Venice.

Katolsk.no har også en grundig artikkel om den hellige Lucia.

I dag er evangeliene i den nye og den gamle messen nesten like; i den nye messen hører vi fra Joh 1,6-8.19-28, i den gamle messen Joh 1:19-28. Og slik leste jeg om dette evangeliet i dagens matutinbønn:

Joh 1:19-28
In that time sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to John, to ask him: Who art thou? … (And so on.)

Homily by Pope St Gregory (the Great) – 7th on the Gospels.
Dearly beloved brethren, the first thing which striketh us in to – day’s Gospel is the lowly – mindedness of John. He was so great that it was thought he might be the Christ; yet he soberly chose rather to seem only what he really was, than to let the belief of men invest him with a dignity which did not belong to him; for he confessed, and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ, at the same time he would not deny what he was in reality; and thus his very truth – speaking made him a member of Him Whose title he would not by falsehood take. In that he arrogated not to himself the name of Christ, he became a member of Christ. While he humbly strove to confess his own weakness, he earned by his simplicity a part in the grandeur of his Master.