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From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The remaining Sundays are the last of the Church’s cycle; but their proximity to its termination varies each year, according as Easter is early or late. This their movable character does away with anything like harmony between the composition of their Masses and the Lessons of the night Office, which, dating from August, have been appointed and fixed for each week. This we explained to our readers on the seventh Sunday after Pentecost. Still, the instruction which the faithful ought to derive from the sacred liturgy would be incomplete, and the spirit of the Church, during these last weeks of her year, would not be sufficiently understood by her children, unless they were to remember, that the two months of October and November are filled, the first, with readings from the Book of the Machabees, whose example inspirits us for the final combats, and the second, with lessons from the Prophets, proclaiming to us the judgments of God.[1]
MASS
Durandus, Bishop of Mende, in his Rational, tells us that this and the following Sundays till Advent bear closely on the Gospel of the marriage-feast, of which they are really but a further development. ‘Whereas,' says he, speaking of this twenty-first Sunday, ‘this marriage has no more powerful opponent than the envy of satan, the Church speaks to us to-day on our combat with him, and on the armour wherewith we must be clad in order to go through this terrible battle, as we shall see by the Epistle. And because sackcloth and ashes are the instruments of penance, therefore does the Church borrow, for the Introit, the words of Mardochai, who prayed for God’s mercy in sackcloth and ashes.'[2]
The reflexions of Durandus are quite true; but though the thought of her having soon to be united with her divine Spouse is uppermost in the Church’s mind, yet it is by forgetting her own happiness and turning all her thoughts to mankind, whose salvation has been entrusted to her care by her Lord, that she will best prove herself to be truly His bride during the miseries of those last days. As we have already said, the near approach of the general judgment, and the terrible state of the world during the period immediately preceding that final consummation of time, is the very soul of the liturgy during these last Sundays of the Church’s year. As regards the present Sunday, the portion of the Mass which used formerly to attract the attention of our Catholic forefathers was the Offertory, taken from the Book of Job, with its telling exclamations and its emphatic repetitions. We may, in all truth, say that this Offertory contains the ruling idea which runs through this twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost.
Reduced, like Job on the dung-hill, to the extremity of wretchedness, the world has nothing to trust to but God’s mercy. The holy men who are still living in it, imitating in the name of all mankind the sentiments of the just man of Idumea, honour God by a patience and resignation which do but add power and intensity to their supplications. They begin by making their own the sublime prayer made by Mardochai for his people, who were doomed to extermination. The world is condemned to a similar ruin.[3]
Introit
In voluntate tua, Domine, universa sunt posita, et non est qui possit resistere voluntati tuæ : tu enim fecisti omnia, cœlum et terrain, et universa quæ cœli ambitu continentur: Dominus universorum tu es.
Ps. Beati immaculati in via: qui ambulant in lege Domini. Gloria Patri. In voluntate.
All things, O Lord, are in thy power, and no one can resist thy will: for thou madest all things, heaven and earth, and all things that are contained within the compass of the heavens : thou art Lord of all.
Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the way : who walk in the law of the Lord. Glory, etc. All things.
The Church shows us very clearly in the Collect that, although she is quite ready to go through the roughest times, yet she prefers peace, because that furnishes her with undisturbed freedom for paying to her God the united homage of religion and good works. The closing petition made by Mardochai, in the prayer whose commencement forms our Introit, was that God would bestow on His people the liberty necessary for that occupation on which the world’s well-being ever depends, the occupation of giving praise to God. These were Mardochai’s grand words : ‘May we live, and praise Thy name, O Lord! and shut not Thou the mouths of them that sing to Thee!’
Collect
Familiam tuam, quæsumus Domine, continua pietate custodi : ut a cunctis adversitatibus, te protegente, sit libera : et in bonis actibus tuo nomini sit devota. Per Dominum.
Preserve thy family, O Lord, we beseech thee, by thy constant mercy: that, under thy protection, it may be freed from all adversities, and be devoted to thy name in the practice of good works. Through, etc.
The other Collects, as on page 120.
Epistle
Lectio Epistolæ beati Pauli Apostoli ad Ephesios.
Cap. vi.
Fratres, Confortamini in Domino, et in potentia virtutis ejus. Induite vos armaturam Dei, ut possitis stare adversus insidias diaboli : quoniam non est nobis colluctatio adversus carnem et sanguinem : sed adversus principes et potestates, adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiæ, in cœlestibus. Propterea accipite armaturam Dei, ut possitis resistere in die malo, et in omnibus perfecti stare. State ergo succincti lumbos vestros in ventate, et induti loricam justitiæ, et calceati pedes in præparatione Evangelii pacis: in omnibus sumentes scutum fìdei, in quo possitis omnia tela nequissimi ignea exstinguere : et galeam salutis assumite : et gladium Spiritus, quod est verbum Dei.
Lesson of the Epistle of St. Paul, the Apostle, to the Ephesians.
Ch. vi.
Brethren : Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power. Put ye on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; in all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The early beginnings of man’s union with his God are, generally speaking, deliciously calm. Divine Wisdom, once He has led His chosen creature by hard laborious work to the purification of his mind and senses, allows him, when the sacred alliance is duly concluded, to rest on His sacred breast, and thoroughly attaches the devoted one to Himself by delights which are an ante-dated heaven, making the soul despise every earthly pleasure. It seems as though the welcome law of Deuteronomy were always in force,[4] namely, that no battle, and no anxiety, must ever break in upon the first season of the glorious union. But this exemption from the general taxation is never of long duration; for combat is the normal state of every man here below.[5]
The Most High is pleased at seeing a battle well fought by His Christian soldiers. There is no name so frequently applied to Him by the prophets as that of the God of hosts. His divine Son, who is the Spouse, shows Himself here on earth as the Lord who is mighty in battle.[6] In the mysterious nuptial canticle of the forty-fourth Psalm, He lets us see Him as a most powerful Prince, girding on His grand sword, and making His way, with His sharp arrows, through the very heart of His enemies, in order to reach, in fair valiance and beautiful victory, the bride He has chosen as His own. She, too, the bride, whose beauty He has vouchsafed to love, and whom He wills to share in all His own glories,[7] advances towards Him in the glittering armour of a warrior,[8]surrounded by choirs[9] singing the magnificent exploits of the Spouse, while she herself is terrible as an army set in array.[10]The armour of the brave is on her arms and breast; her noble bearing reminds one of the tower of David, with its thousand bucklers.[11]
United to her divine Lord, warriors the most valiant stand about her; they merit that privilege by their well-proved sword and their skill in war; each one of them has his sword ready, because of the night-surprises which the enemy may use against this most dear Church.[12] For until the dawn of the eternal day, when the shadows of this present life are put to flight[13] by the light of the Lamb,[14] who will then have vanquished all His enemies, power is in the hands of the rulers of the world of this darkness, says St. Paul, in our to-day’s Epistle; and it is against them that we must take to ourselves the armour of God, which he there describes; we must wear it all, if we would he able to resist, in the evil day.
The evil days, spoken of by the apostle last Sunday,[15] are frequent in the life of every individual, as, likewise, in the world's history. But for every man, and for the world at large, there is one evil day, evil beyond all the others : it is the last day, the day of judgment, the day of exceeding bitterness as the Church calls it,[16] on account of the woe and misery which are to fill it. We talk of so many years as passing away, and of centuries succeeding each other; but all these are neither more nor less than preparations hurrying on the world to the last day. Happy those who, on that day, shall fight the good fight,[17] and win victory! Or who, as our apostle expresses it, shall stand, whilst all around them is ruin, yea, stand in all things perfect! They shall not be hurt by the second death;[18] wreathed with the crown of justice,[19] they shall reign with God,[20] on His throne, together with His Son.[21]
The war is an easy one, when we have this Man. God for our Leader. All He asks of us, is what the apostle thus words : Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of His power! It is leaning on her Beloved, that the beautiful Church is to go up from the desert; and, thus supported, she is actually to be flowing with delights,[22] even in those most sad days. The faithful soul is out of herself with love, when she remembers that the armour she wears is the armour of God, that is, the very armour of her Spouse. It is thrilling to hear the prophets describing Jesus, our Leader, accoutred for battle, with all the pieces we, too, are to wear : He girds Himself with the girdle of faith;[23] then He puts the helmet of salvation on His beautiful head;[24] then, the breast-plate of justice;[25] then, the shield of invincible equity;[26] and finally a magnificently tempered sword, the sivord of the Spirit, which is the word of God.[27] The Gospel also portrays Him entering on the great battle, that He might teach us by His example, how to use these divine arms.
This armour consists of many parts, because of its varied uses and effects; and yet, whether offensive or defensive, all of them have one common name, faith. This our Epistle tells us; and this our divine Leader taught us, when to the triple temptation brought against Him by the devil on the mount of Quarantana, He made answer by texts from the sacred Scriptures.[28] The victory which overcometh the world, is our faith, says St. John.[29] When St. Paul, at the close of his career, reviews the combats he had fought through life, he sums up all in this telling word : ‘I have kept the faith.’[30] The life of Paul, in that, should be the life of every Christian, for he says to us : 'Fight the good fight of faith!'[31] It is faith, which, in spite of those fearful odds enumerated in to-day’s Epistle as being against us, ensures the victory to men of good will. If, in the warfare we must go through, we were to reckon the chances of our enemies by their overwhelming forces and advantages, it is quite certain that we should have little hope of winning the day; for it is not with men like ourselves, it is not, as the Apostle puts it, with flesh and blood, that we have to wrestle; but with enemies that we can never grapple with, who are in the high places of the air around us, and are, therefore, invisible, and most skilled, and powerful, and wonderfully up in all the sad secrets of our poor fallen nature, and turning the whole weight of their advantages to trick man, and ruin him, out of hatred for God. These wicked spirits were originally created, that, in the purity of their unmixed spiritual nature, they should be a reflex of the divine splendour of their Maker; and now, having rebelled by pride, they exhibit that execrable prodigy of angelic intelligences, spending all their powers in doing evil to man, and in hating truth.
How, then, are we, who by our very nature are darkness and misery, to wrestle with these spiritual principalities and powers,who devote all their wisdom and rage to produce darkness, so as to turn the whole earth into a world of darkness?'By our becoming light,' answers St. John Chrysostom.[32] The light, it is true, is not to shine upon us in its own direct brightness until the great day of the revelation of the sons of God;[33] but meanwhile we have a divine subsidy, which supplements sight, viz., the revealed word.[34] Baptism did not open our eyes so as to see God, but it opened our ears that we might hear Him when He speaks to us. Now, He speaks to us by the Scriptures, and by His Church; and our faith gives us, regarding truth thus revealed, a certainty as great as though we saw it with our eyes. By his child-like docility, the just man walks on in peace, in the simplicity of the Gospel. Better than breast-plate or helmet, the shield of faith protects us from every sort of injury; it blunts the fiery darts of the world, it repels the fury of our own passions, it makes us far-seeing enough to escape the most artful snares of the most wicked ones. Is not the word of God good for every emergency? And it is never wanting to us. Satan has a horror of the Christian who, though he may be weak in other respects, is strong in this divine word. He has a greater fear of that man than he has of all the schools and professors of philosophy; he knows well that at every encounter he will be crushed beneath his feet,[35] and with a rapidity akin to what our Lord tells us He Himself witnessed : ‘I saw satan, like lightning, falling from heaven.'[36] It was on the great battle-day[37] when he was hurled from paradise by that one word michael; exquisite word, which was given to the triumphant Archangel to be his everlasting noble name! And he himself, by that word of God, and by that victory for God, was made our model and our defender. We have already explained to our readers why it is that these closing weeks of the Church’s year are so full of the grand Archangel St. Michael.
In the Gradual and its versicle the Church tells her Lord how He has ever been the refuge of His people: His goodness, like His power, was before all ages, because He is God from all eternity. May He, therefore, now protect His faithful servants, who, reduced to a scanty number as Israel was of old, are preparing the last exodus of the Church, which is leaving this infidel world, and is hastening to the true land of promise.
Gradual
Domine, refugium factus es nobis a generatione et progenie.
V. Priusquam montes fierent, aut formaretur terra et orbis : a sæculo, et usque in sæculum tu es Deus.
Alleluia, alleluia. V. In exitu Israel de Ægypto, domus Jacob de populo barbaro, Alleluia.
Lord! thou hast been our refuge from generation unto generation.
V. Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world were formed: thou art God, for ever and ever.
Alleluia, alleluia. V. When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people. Alleluia.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthæum.
Cap. xviii..
In illo tempore : Dixit Jesus discipulis suis parabolam hanc : Assimilatum est regnum cœlorum homini regi, qui voluit rationem ponere cum servis suis. Et cum cœpisset rationem ponere, oblatus est ei unus, qui debebat ei decem millia talenta. Cum autem non haberet unde redderet, jussit eum dominus ejus venmndari, et uxorem ejus, et filios, et omnia quæhabebat, et reddi. Procidens autem servus ille, orabat eum, dicens : Patientiam habe in me, et omnia reddam tibi. Misertus autem dominus servi illius, dimisit eum, et debitum dimisit ei. Egressus autem servus ille, invenit unum de conservis suis, qui debebat ei centum denarios : et tenens suffocabat eum, dicens : Redde quod debes. Et procidens conservus ejus, rogabat eum, dicens : Patientiam habe in me, et omnia reddam tibi. Ille autem noluit; sed abiit, et misit eum in carcerem, donec redderet debitum. Videntes autem conservi ejus quæ fiebant, contristati sunt valde : et venerunt, et narraverunt domino suo omnia quæ facta fuerant. Tunc vocavit ilium dominus suus, et ait illi: Serve nequam, omne debitum dimisi tibi quoniam rogasti me : nonne ergo oportuit et te misereri conservi tui, sicut et ego tui misertus sum? Et iratus dominus ejus, tradidit eum tortoribus, quoadusque redderet universum debitum. Sic et Pater meus cœlestis faciet vobis, si non remise ritis unusquisque fratri suo de cordibus vestris.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Ch. xviii.
At that time: Jesus spoke to his disciples this parable : The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him that owed him ten thousand talents. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying : Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go, and forgave him the debt. But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow-servants that owed him a hundred pence; and laying hold of him, he throttled him, saying : Pay what thou owest. And his fellow-servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt. Now his fellow-servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him, and said to him: Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me : shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellowservant, even as I had compassion on thee? And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.
‘O thou just Judge of vengeance, grant us the gift of forgiveness before the day of reckoning cometh!' Such is the petition that comes from the heart of holy mother Church, as she thinks on what may have befallen those countless children of hers, who have been victims of death during this, as every other year; it is, moreover, the supplication that should be made by every living soul, after hearing the Gospel just read to us. The sequence Dies irœ, from which these words are taken, is not only a sublime prayer for the dead; it is, likewise, and especially at this close of the ecclesiastical year, an appropriate expression for all of us who are still living. Our thoughts and our expectations are naturally turned towards our own death. We almost seem forgotten, and overlooked, in this evening of the world’s existence; but it is not so, for we know, from the sacred Scripture, that we shall join those who have already slept the last sleep, and shall be taken, together with them, to meet our divine Judge.[38]
Let us hearken to some more of our mother’s words in that same magnificent sequence: ‘How great will be our fear, when the Judge is just about to come, and rigorously examine all our works! The trumpet’s wondrous sound will pierce the graves of every land, and summon us all before the throne! Death will stand amazed, and nature too, when the creature shall rise again, to go and answer Him that is to judge! The written book shall be brought forth, wherein all is contained, for which the world is to be tried. So, when the Judge shall sit on His throne, every hidden secret shall be revealed, nothing shall remain unpunished! What shall I, poor wretch! then say? Whom ask to be my patron, when the just man himself shall scarce be safe? O King of dreaded majesty! who savest gratuitously them that are saved, save me, O fount of love! Do Thou remember, loving Jesu! that I was cause of Thy life on earth! Lose me not on that day!' Undoubtedly, such a prayer as this has every best chance of being graciously heard, addressed as it is to Him, who has nothing so much at heart as our salvation, and who, to procure it, gave Himself up to fatigue and suffering, and to death on the cross. But we should be inexcusable, and deserve condemnation twice over, were we to neglect to profit by the advice He Himself gives us, whereby to avert from us the perils of ‘that day of tears, when guilty man shall rise from the dust, and go to be judged!’[39] Let us, then, meditate on the parable of our Gospel, whose sole object is to teach us a sure way of settling, at once, our accounts with the divine King.
We are all of us, in fact, that negligent servant, that insolvent debtor, whose master might, in all justice, sell him with all he has, and hand him over to the torturers. The debt contracted with God by the sins we have committed is of such a nature as to deserve endless tortures; it supposes an eternal hell, in which the guilty one will ever be paying, yet never cancelling his debt. Infinite praise, then, and thanks to the divine Creditor, who, being moved to pity by the entreaties of the unhappy man who asks for time and he will pay all, grants him far beyond what he prays for, by immediately forgiving him the debt. He attaches but one condition to the pardon, as is evident from the sequel. He insists, and most justly, that he should go and do in like manner towards his fellowservants, who may, perhaps, owe something to him. After being so generously forgiven by his Lord and King, after having his infinite debt so gratuitously cancelled, how can he possibly turn a deaf ear to the very same prayer which won pardon for himself, now that a fellow-servant makes it to him? Is it to be believed that he will refuse all pity towards one whose only offence is that he asks him for time, and he will pay all?
‘It is quite true,’ says St. Augustine, 'that every man has his fellow-man for a debtor; for who is the man that has had no one to offend him? But, at the same time, who is the man that is not debtor to God? For all of us have sinned. Man, therefore, is both debtor to God, and creditor to his fellow-man. It is for this reason that God has laid down this rule for thy conduct, that thou must treat thy debtor, as He treats His. . . . We pray every day; every day we send up the same petition to the divine throne; every day we prostrate ourselves before God, and say to Him : “ Forgive us our debts, as we forgive them that are debtors to us.”[40] Of what debts speakest thou? Is it of all thy debts? or of one or two only? Thou wilt say : “ Of all.” Do thou, therefore, forgive thy debtor, for it is the rule laid upon thee, it is the condition accepted by thee.’[41]
‘It is a greater thing,’ says St. John Chrysostom, ‘to forgive our neighbour the trespasses he has committed against us, than to remit him a sum of money; for, by forgiving him his sins, we imitate God.’[42] And, after all, what is the injury committed by one man against another man, if compared with the offence committed by man against God? Alas! we are all guilty of the latter; even the just man knows its misery seven times[43] over, and, as the text probably means, seven times a day; so that, it comes ruffling our whole day. Let us at least contract the habit of being merciful towards our fellow-men, since every night we are pardoned all our miseries, on the sole condition of owning them. It is an excellent practice, not to go to bed without putting ourselves in the dispositions of a little child, who can rest his head on God’s bosom, and there fall asleep. But, if we thus feel it a happy necessity, to find in the heart of our heavenly Father[44]forgetfulness of our day’s faults, and an infinitely tender love for us, how can we, at that very time, dare to be storing up in our minds any bitterness against our neighbours, our brethren, who are also His children? Even supposing that we had been treated by them with outrageous injustice or insult, could these their faults bear any comparison with our offences against that good God, whose born enemies we were, and whom we have caused to be put to an ignominious death? Whatsoever may be the circumstances attending the unkindness shown us, we may and should invariably practise the rule given us by the apostle: 'Be ye kind one to another, merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you, in Christ! Be ye imitators of God, as most dear children!’[45] What! thou callest God thy Father, and dost thou remember an injury that has been done thee? ‘That,’ says St. John Chrysostom, ‘is not the way a son of God acts! The work of a son of God is this: to pardon his enemies, to pray for them that crucify him, to shed his blood for them that hate him. Would you know the conduct of one who is worthy to be a son of God? He takes his enemies, and his ingrates, and his robbers, and his insulters, and his traitors, and makes them his brethren and sharers of all his wealth!’[46]
We here give, in its entirety, the celebrated Offertory of Job, with its verses. The observations we made at the beginning of the Mass will enable us to enter into the spirit of this liturgical piece. As Amalarius says, the anthem, which has been retained, gives us the words of the historian, who simply relates the facts, one after the other, without any remarks; but, in the verses, we have Job himself speaking, his body all humbled, and his soul full of sorrow : the repetition of the same words, their interruptions, their refrain, their broken phrases, vividly represent his panting for breath, and intense suffering.[47]
Offertory
Vir erat in terra Hus nomine Job, simplex et rectus ac timens Deum : quem satan petiit, ut tentaret; et data est ei potestas a Domino in facultates, et in carnem eius, perdiditque omnem suostantiam ipsius, et filios: carnem quoque ejus gravi ulcere vulneravit.
V. I. Utinam appenderentur peccata mea; utinam appenderentur peccata mea, quibus iram merui, quibus iram merui; et calamitas, et calamitas quarti patior : hœc gravior appareret.
Vir erat.
V. II Quœ est enim, quæ est enim, quæ est enim for titudo mea ut sustineam? aut quis finis meus ut patienter agam?
Vir erat.
V. III. Numquid fortitudo lapidum est fortitudo mea? ant caro mea ænea est? aut caro mea ænea est?
Vir erat
V. IV. Quoniam, quoniam, quoniam non revertetur oculus meus ut videat bona, ut videat bona, ut videat bona, ut videat bona, ut videat bona, ut videat bona, ut videat bona, ut videat bona, ut videat bona.
Vir erat.
There was a man in the land of Hus whose name was Job, simple and upright, and fearing God : and satan asked to tempt him; and power was given him by the Lord over his possessions, and over his flesh : and he destroyed all his substance, and his sons : and he wounded his flesh with a grievous ulcer.
V. I. Oh! that my sins were weighed in a balance! Oh! that my sins, whereby I have deserved wrath, whereby I have deserved wrath, were weighed in a balance! and the calamity, the calamity that I suffer, it would appear heavier!
There was a man.
V. II. For what is, for what is, for what is my strength, that I can hold out? or what is my end, that I should keep patience?
There was a man.
V. III. Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? or is my flesh of brass?
There was a man.
V. IV. For, for, for, mine eye shall not return to see good things, to see good things, to see good things, to see good things, to see good things, to see good things, to see good things, to see good things, to see good things.
There was a man.
The salvation of the world, and that of each individual man, is, virtually, ever in the august Sacrifice, whose power restoresman by appeasing God. With a confidence that fails not, let us use it, as the most efficacious recourse that can be had to the divine mercy.
Secret
Suscipe, Domine, propitius hostias, quibus et te piacari voluisti, et nobis salutem potenti pietate restitui. Per Dominum.
Mercifully receive, O Lord, these offerings, by which thou art pleased to be appeased, and in thy powerful goodness to restore our salvation. Through, etc.
The other Secrets, as on page 130.
An unflagging hope ever accompanies the admirable patience of holy Church. Persecutions, be they ever so fierce or long, never interrupt her prayer for, as the Communion expresses it, she keeps in her heart a faithful recollection of the word of salvation that was given her by God.
Communion
In salutari tuo anima mea, et in verbum tuum speravi : quando facies de persequentibus me judicium? Iniqui persecuti sunt me : adjuva me, Domine Deus meus.
My soul hath looked to be saved by thee, and hath relied on thy word: when wilt thou judge them that persecute me? The wicked ones have persecuted me: help me, O Lord my God!
Now that we have been nourished by the food of immortality, let us live on it, with all the sincerity of a soul that is made pure.
Postcommunion
Immortalitatis alimoniam consecuti, quæsumus Domine : ut quod ore percepimus, pura mente sectemur. Per Dominum.
Having received the food of immortality, we beseech thee, O Lord, that what we have taken with our mouths, we may receive with a pure mind. Through, etc.
The other Postcommunions, as on page 131.
VESPERS
The psalms, capitulum, hymn, and versicle, as above, pages 71-81.
Antiphon of the Magnificat
Serve nequam, omne debitum dimisi tibi, quoniam rogasti me : nonne ergo oportuit et te misereri conservi tui, sicut et ego tui misertus sum? Alleluia.
Oremus.
Familiam tuam, quæsumus Domine, continua pietate custodi : ut a cunctis adversitatibus, te protegente, sit libera : et in bonis actibus tuo nomini sit devota. Per Dominum.
Thou wicked servant I I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me : shouldst not thou, then, have had compassion also on thy fellow-servant, even as I had compassion on thee? Alleluia.
Let us Pray.
Preserve thy family, O Lord, we beseech thee, by thy constant mercy : that, under thy protection, it may be freed from all adversities, and be devoted to thy name in the practice of good works. Through, etc.
[1] See above, pp. 6, 7.
[2] Dur., Ration., vi. 138.
[3] Esth. xiii. 9-11.
[4] Deut. xxiv. 5.
[5] Job vii. 1.
[6] Ps. xxiii. 8.
[7] Pa. xliv.
[8] Cant. iv. 4.
[9] Ibid. vii. i.
[10] Ibid. vi. 9.
[11] Ibid. iv. 4.
[12] Ibid. iii. 7.
[13] Ibid. iv. 6.
[14] Apoc. xxi. 9, 23.
[15] Eph. v. 16.
[16] Resp. Libera me.
[17] 2 Tim. iv. 7.
[18] Apoc. ii. 11.
[19] 2 Tim. iv. 8.
[20] Apoc. xx. 6.
[21] Ibid. iii. 21.
[22] Cant. viii. 5.
[23] Isa, xi. 5.
[24] Ibid. lix. 17.
[25] Wisd. v. 19.
[26] Ibid. 20.
[27] Apoc. ii. 16.
[28] St. Matt. iv. 1-11.
[29] 1 St. John v. 4.
[30] 2 Tim. iv. 7.
[31] 1 Tim. vi. 12.
[32] St. Chrys., Hom, xxii., in ep. ad Eph.
[33] Rom viii. 19.
[34] 2 St. Pet. i. 19.
[35] Rom. xvi. 20.
[36] St. Luke x. 18.
[37] Apoc. xii. 7.
[38] 1 Thess. iv. 14-16.
[39] Seq. Dies irœ.
[40] St. Matt. vi. 12.
[41] St. Aug., Serm. lxxxiii.
[42] St. Chrys., in ep. ad Eph., Hom. xvii. 1.
[43] Prov. xxiv. 16.
[44] St. Matt. vi. 9.
[45] Eph. iv. 32; v. 1.
[46] St. Chrys., in ep. ad Eph., Hom. xiv. 3.
[47] Amal., De eccl. Off., L. iii., c. 39.
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