Feast days of the week 30 November -6 December, A.D. 2008 (1962 liturgical calendar).

Thursday, 4 December, 2008 (Advent)
ST PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church (III)
"The holy Bishop of Ravenna was one of the most eloquent preachers of the Church (Chrysologus means ‘golden speech’). He died at Imola A.D. 450."

Collect: O God, who didst choose blessed Peter Chrysologus, the illustrious Doctor, and miraculously point him out as one fit to rule and instruct Thy Church: grant, we beseech Thee, that as we have had him for our teacher on earth, so we may have deserve to have him for our advocate in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end.
Epistle: Second Letter of Bl. Paul the Apostle to Timothy, 4:1-8.
[St. Paul admonishes Timothy to hold firmly the sound doctrine of the Gospel. The Doctors of the Church were also renowned for their orthodoxy and their theological learning.]
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, 5:13-19.
[Like the Apostles, the Doctors of the Church are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.]

ST BARBARA, Virgin, Martyr (Comm.)
“This Virgin and Martyr died at Nicomedia about 235 A.D.”

Collect: O God, who among the other marvels of Thy power, hast granted even to the weaker sex the victory of martyrdom: mercifully grant that we who celebrate the heavenly birthday of blessed St. Barbara, Thy Virgin and Martyr, may be her example draw nearer to Thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end.
Lesson: From the Book of Ecclesiasticus, 51:1-8, 12.
[The Church, in union with the Virgin martyrs offers to the Lord praise and thanksgiving.]
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, 25:1-13.
[The parable of the ten virgins. They that were ready went in with the heavenly Bridegroom to the Eternal Banquet.]

Remarks are abstracted from The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual, from Editio Typica of the Roman Missal and Breviary, 1962
(Baronius Press Limited, London, 2004, in conjunction with the Fraternal Society of St. Peter, www.baroniuspress.com)