Second Week of Lent
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The subject offered to our consideration, on this second Sunday, is one of the utmost importance for the holy season. The Church applies to us the lesson which our Saviour gave to three of His apostles. Let us endeavour to be more attentive to it than they were.
Jesus was about to pass from Galilee into Judea, that He might go up to Jerusalem and be present at the feast of the Pasch. It was that last Pasch, which was to begin with the immolation of the figurative lamb, and end with the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. Jesus would have His disciples know Him. His works had borne testimony to Him, even before those who were, in a manner, strangers to Him; but as for His disciples, had they not every reason to be faithful to Him, even to death? Had they not listened to His words, which had such power with them that they forced conviction? Had they not experienced His love, which it was impossible to resist? And had they not seen how patiently He had borne with their strange and untoward ways? Yes, they must have known Him. They had heard one of their company, Peter, declare that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God.[1] Notwithstanding this, the trial to which their faith was soon to be put was of such a terrible kind, that Jesus would mercifully arm them against temptation by an extraordinary grace.
The cross was to be a scandal and a stumbling block[2] to the Synagogue, and alas! to more than it. Jesus said to His apostles at the last Supper: ‘All of you shall be scandalized in Me this night.’[3] Carnal minded as they then were, what would they think when they should see Him seized by armed men, handcuffed, hurried from one tribunal to another, and doing nothing to defend Himself! And when they found that the high priests and pharisees, who had hitherto been so often foiled by the wisdom and miracles of Jesus, had now succeeded in their conspiracy against Him, what a shock to their confidence! But there was to be something more trying still: the people, who, but a few days before, greeted Him so enthusiastically with their Hosannas, would demand His execution; and He would have to die, between two thieves, on the cross, amidst the insults of His triumphant enemies.
Is it not to be feared that these disciples, when they witness His humiliations and sufferings, will lose their courage? They have lived in His company for three years; but when they see that the things He foretold would happen to Him are really fulfilled, will the remembrance of all they have seen and heard keep them loyal to Him? Or will they turn cowards and flee from Him? Jesus selects three out of the number, who are especially dear to Him: Peter, whom He has made the rock, on which His Church is to be built, and to whom He has promised the keys of the kingdom of heaven; James, the son of thunder, who is to be the first martyr of the apostolic college; and John, James’s brother, and His own beloved disciple. Jesus has resolved to take them aside, and show them a glimpse of that glory, which, until the day fixed for its manifestation, He conceals from the eyes of mortals.
He therefore leaves the rest of His disciples in the plain near Nazareth, and goes in company with the three privileged ones towards a high hill called Thabor, which is a continuation of Libanus, and which the psalmist tells us was to rejoice in the name of the Lord.[4] No sooner has He reached the summit of the mountain, than the three apostles observe a sudden change come over Him; His Face shines as the sun, and His humble garments become white as snow. They observe two venerable men approach and speak with Him upon what He is about to suffer in Jerusalem. One is Moses, the lawgiver; the other is Elias, the prophet, who was taken up from earth on a fiery chariot without having passed through the gates of death. These two great representatives of the Jewish religion, the Law and the Prophets, humbly adore Jesus of Nazareth. The three apostles are not only dazzled by the brightness which comes from their divine Master; but they are filled with such a rapture of delight, that they cannot bear the thought of leaving the place. Peter proposes to remain there for ever and build three tabernacles, for Jesus, Moses, and Elias. And while they are admiring the glorious sight, and gazing on the beauty of their Jesus’ human Nature, a bright cloud overshadows them, and a voice is heard speaking to them: it is the voice of the eternal Father, proclaiming the Divinity of Jesus, and saying: ‘This is My beloved Son!’
This transfiguration of the Son of Man, this manifestation of His glory, lasted but a few moments: His mission was not on Thabor; it was humiliation and suffering in Jerusalem. He therefore withdrew into Himself the brightness He had allowed to transpire; and when He came to the three apostles, who, on hearing the voice from the cloud, had fallen on their faces with fear, they could see no one save only Jesus. The bright cloud was gone; Moses and Elias had disappeared. What a favour they have had bestowed upon them! Will they remember what they have seen and heard? They have had such a revelation of the Divinity of their dear Master! Is it possible that, when the hour of trial comes, they will forget it, and doubt His being God? And when they see Him suffer and die, will they be ashamed of Him and deny Him? Alas! the Gospel has told us what happened to them.
A short time after this, our Lord celebrated His last Supper with His disciples. When the supper was over, He took them to another mount, Mount Olivet, which lies to the east of Jerusalem. Leaving the rest at the entrance of the garden, He advances with Peter, James, and John, and then says to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here and watch with Me.’[5] He then retires some little distance from them, and prays to His eternal Father. The Heart of our Redeemer is weighed down with anguish. When He returns to His three disciples, He is enfeebled by the agony He has suffered, and His garments are saturated with Blood. The apostles are aware that He is sad even unto death, and that the hour is close at hand when He is to be attacked: are they keeping watch? are they ready to defend Him? No: they seem to have forgotten Him; they are fast asleep, for their eyes are heavy.[6] Yet a few moments, and all will have fled from Him; and Peter, the bravest of them all, will be taking his oath that he never knew the Man.
After the Resurrection our three apostles made ample atonement for this cowardly and sinful conduct, and acknowledged the mercy wherewith Jesus had sought to fortify them against temptation, by showing them His glory on Thabor a few days before His Passion. Let us not wait till we have betrayed Him: let us at once acknowledge that He is our Lord and our God. We are soon to be keeping the anniversary of His Sacrifice; like the apostles, we are to see Him humbled by His enemies and bearing, in our stead, the chastisements of divine justice. We must not allow our faith to be weakened, when we behold the fulfilment of those prophecies of David and Isaias, that the Messias is to be treated as a worm of the earth,[7] and be covered with wounds, so as to become like a leper, the most abject of men, and the Man of sorrows.[8] We must remember the grand things of Thabor, and the adorations paid Him by Moses and Elias, and the bright cloud, and the voice of the eternal Father. The more we see Him humbled, the more must we proclaim His glory and divinity; we must join our acclamations with those of the angels and the four-and-twenty elders, whom St. John, one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration, heard crying out with a loud voice: ‘The Lamb that was slain, is worthy to receive power and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction!’[9]
The second Sunday of Lent is called, from the first word of the Introit, Reminiscere; and also Transfiguration Sunday, on account of the Gospel which is read in the Mass.
The Station at Rome is in the church of St. Mary in Dominica, on Monte Celio. Tradition tells us that in this basilica was the diaconicum of which St. Laurence had charge, and from which he distributed to the poor the alms of the Church.
MASS
The Church, in the Introit, encourages us to confidence in God, who will deliver us from our enemies, if we ask it of Him with fervent prayer. There are two favours which, during Lent, we ought to beseech Him to grant us: the pardon of our sins, and His help to avoid a relapse.
Introit
Reminiscere miserationum tuarum, Domine, et misericordiæ tuæ, quæ a sunt: ne unquam dominentur nobis inimici nostri: libera nos, Deus Israël, ex omnibus angustiis nostris.
Ps. Ad te, Domine, levavi animam meam: Deus meus, in te confido, non erubescam. V. Gloria Patri. Reminiscere.
Remember, O Lord, Thy bowels of compassion, and thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world. Let not our enemies ever rule over us: deliver us, O God of Israel, from all our distress.
Ps. To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul; in thee O my God, I put my trust, let me not be ashamed. V. Glory. Remember.
In the Collect, we beg of God to watch over us in all our necessities, of both body and soul. If our prayer be humble and earnest, it will be granted. God will provide for us in our corporal necessities, and will defend our souls against the suggestions of our enemy, who strives to sully even our thoughts.
Collect
Deus qui conspicis omni nos virtute destitui, interius exteriusque custodi: ut ab omnibus adversitatibus muniamur in corpore, et a pravis cogitationibus mundemur in mente. Per Dominum.
O God, who seest how destitute we are of all strength, preserve us both within and without, that our bodies may be free from all adversity, and our souls purified from all evil thoughts. Through, &c.
The second and third Collects are given on the first Sunday of Lent, page 129.
Epistle
Lectio Epistolae beati Pauli Apostoli ad Thessalonicenses.
1 Cap. iv.
Fratres: Rogamus vos et obsecramus in Domino Jesu, ut quemadmodum accepistis a nobis, quomodo oporteat vos ambulare, et placere Deo, sic et ambuletis, ut abundetis magis. Scitis enim quæ præcepta dederim vobis per Dominum Jesum. Hæc est enim voluntas Dei sanctificatio vestra: ut abstineatis vos a fomicatione, ut sciat unusquisque vestrum vas suum possidere in sanctificatione et honore: non in passione desiderii, sicut et Gentes quæ ignorant Deum: et ne quis supergrediatur, neque circumveniat in negotio fratrem suum: quoniam vindex est Dominus de his omnibus, sicut prædiximus vobis, et testificati sumus. Non enim vocavit nos Deus in immunditiam, sed in sanctificationem: in Christo Jesu Domino nostro.
Lesson of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians.
1 Ch. iv.
Brethren: We pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us, how you ought to walk and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more. For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from fornication; that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles, that know not God; and that no man over-reach, nor circumvent his brother in business; because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, as we have told you before, and have testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification: in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here the apostle shows what manner of life should be followed by Christians; and the Church, by repeating his words, exhorts the faithful to profit of the present season of grace, and regain all the beauty of the image of God, which the grace of Baptism first gave them. A Christian is a’vessel of honour,’formed and enriched by the hand of God; let him, therefore, shun whatsoever would degrade his noble origin, and turn him into a vessel of dishonour, fit only to be broken and cast with the unclean into the sink of hell. The Christian religion has so far ennobled man, that even his very body may share in the soul’s sanctity; on the other hand it teaches us that this sanctity of the soul is impaired, yea altogether effaced, by the loss of the body’s purity. The whole man, therefore, both body and soul, is to be reformed by the practices of this holy season. Let us purify the soul by the confession of our sins, by compunction of heart, by the love of God; and let us give back its dignity to the body, by making it bear the yoke of penance, that so it may be, henceforth, subservient and docile to the soul, and, on the day of the general resurrection, may partake in her endless bliss.
In the Gradual, man cries out to his God to deliver him from the evils that threaten him, and give him victory over the invisible enemy, who so cruelly humbles and insults him.
The Tract is both a canticle of confidence in the divine mercy, and a prayer addressed by the Church to her Saviour, beseeching Him to visit and save her faithful children on the great feast, which is still so far off, but towards which each day brings us nearer.
Gradual
Tribulationes cordis mei dilatatæ sunt; de necessitatibus meis eripe me, Domine. V. Vide humilitatem meam et laborera meum: et dimitte omnia pcccata mea.
The distress of my soul is increased: deliver me, O Lord, from my necessities. V. See to what I am reduced, see what I suffer: and forgive me all my sins.
Tract
Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus: quoniam in sæculum misericordia ejus.
V. Quis loquetur potentias Domini, auditas faciet omnes laudes ejus?
V. Beati qui custodiunt judicium, et faciunt justitiam in omni tempore.
V. Memento nostri, Domine, in beneplacito populi tui: visita nos in salutari tuo.
Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
V. Who shall declare the powers of the Lord? who shall set forth all his praises?
V. Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do justice at all times.
V. Remember us, O Lord, in favour of thy people: visit us with thy salvation.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthæum.
Cap. xvii.
In illo tempore: Assumpsit Jesus Petrum, et Jacobum, et Joannem fratrem ejus, et duxit illos in montem excelerum eeorsum: et transfiguratus est ante eos. Et resplenduit facies ejus sicut sol: vestimenta autem ejus facta sunt alba sicut nix. Et ecce apparuerunt illis Moyses et Elias cum eo loquentes. Respondens autem Petrus, dixit ad Jesum: Domine, bonum est nos hic esse: si vis, faciamus hic tria tabernacula, tibi unum, Moysi unum, et Eliæ unum. Adhuc eo loquente ecce nubes lucida obumbravit eos. Et ecce vox de nube, dicens: Hic est Filius meus dilectus in quo mihi bene complacui: ipsum audite. Et audientes discipuli, ceciderunt in faciem suam, et timuerunt valde. Et accessit Jesus, et tetigit eos, dixitque eis: Surgite et nolite timere. Levantes autem oculos suos, neminem viderunt nisi solum Jesum. Et descendentibus illis de monte, præcepit eis Jesus, dicens: Nemini dixeritis visionem, donee Filius hominis a mortuis resurgat.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Ch. xvii.
At that time: Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: and he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow. And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. And as he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshaded them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him. And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said to them: Arise and fear not And they lifting up their eyes saw no one, but only Jesus. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the yision to no man, till the Son of Man be risen from the dead.
Thus did Jesus encourage His apostles, when the time of temptation was near; He sought to impress them with His glory, that it might keep up their faith in that trying time, when the outward eye would see nothing in His Person but weakness and humiliation. Oh, the loving considerateness of divine grace, which is never wanting, and which shows us in so strong a light the goodness and the justice of our God! Like the apostles, we also have sinned; like them, we have neglected to profit of the help that was sent us from heaven; we have shut our eyes against the light; we have forgotten the fair vision that was granted us, and which made us so fervent and happy; and we fell. We have not, then, been tempted above our strength[10] and it is indeed our own fault that we committed sin. The three apostles were exposed to a terrible temptation, when they beheld their divine Master robbed of all His majesty; but how easy for them to resist the temptation, by thinking of what they had seen, but a few days before! Instead of that, they lost their courage, and forgot prayer, which would have brought their courage back; and thus the favoured witnesses of Thabor became cowards and deserters in the garden of Mount Olivet. There was but one thing left them to do: throw themselves upon the loving mercy of their Jesus, as soon as He had triumphed over His enemies; they did so, and His generous Heart pardoned them.
Let us imitate them here too. We have abused the grace of God and rendered it fruitless, by our want of correspondence. The fountain of this grace is not yet dried up; as long as we are in this world, we may always draw from this source, which comes from the Blood and merits of our Redeemer. It is grace that is now urging us to the amendment of our lives. It is given to us in abundance during the present time, and it is given mainly by the holy exercises of Lent. Let us go up the mountain with Jesus; there we shall not be disturbed by the noise of earthly things. Let us there spend our forty days with Moses and Elias, who long ago sanctified this number by their fasts. Thus, when the Son of Man shall have risen from the dead, we will proclaim the favours He has mercifully granted us on Thabor.
In the Offertory, the Church bids us meditate on the commandments of God. Would that we might love them as fervently as the royal prophet, whose words these are!
Offertory
Meditabor in mandatis tuis, quæ dilexi valde: et levabo manus meas ad mandata tua, quæ dilexi.
I will meditate on thy law, which I have loved exceedingly: and I will practise thy commandments, which I have loved.
The holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a source of devotion; let us, as the Church, in the Secret, prays we may, profit by our to-day’s assistance at it. It contains the pledge and price of our salvation, and, if we put no obstacle in the way, it will complete our reconciliation with our Lord.
Secret
Sacrificiis praesentibus, Domine, quæsumus, intende placatus: ut et devotioni nostræ proficiant, et saluti. Per Dominum.
Look down, O Lord, we beseech thee, on this our sacrifice, that it may increase our devotion and procure our salvation. Through, &c.
The other Secrets as on the first Sunday, page 136.
The penitent soul, having seen how this ineffable mystery has given her to enjoy the presence of Him who is her Saviour and her Judge, offers to Him her prayers with all the fervour of confidence. She says to Him these words of the psalmist, which form the Communion antiphon:
Communion
Intellige clamorem meum: intende voci orationis meæ, Rex meus et Deus meus: quoniam ad te orabo, Domine.
Understand my cry, hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God! For to thee will I pray, O Lord!
In the Postcommunion, the Church prays especially for those of her children who have partaken of the Victim she has just been offering. Jesus has nourished them with His own Flesh; it behoves them to prove themselves worthy of Him by the renewal of their lives.
Postcommunion
Supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus, ut quos tuis reficis sacramentis, tibi etiam placitis moribus dignanter deservire concedas. Per Dominum.
Grant, we humbly beseech thee, O almighty God, that those whom thou hast refreshed with thy sacraments, may worthily serve thee in the conduct of their lives. Through, &c.
The other Postcommunions as on the first Sunday, page 138.
VESPERS
The psalms and antiphons are given on page 99.
Capitulum
(1 Thess, iv.)
Fratres: Rogamus vos et obsecramus in Domino Jesu, ut quemadmodum accepistis a nobis, quomodo vos oporteat ambulare, et placere Deo, sic et ambuletis ut abundetis magis.
Brethren, We pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us, how you ought to walk and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more.
For the hymn and versicle, see page 106.
Antiphon of the Magnificat
Visionem quam vidistis, nemini dixeritis, donec a mortuis resurgat Filius hominis.
Oremus.
Deus qui conspicis omni nos virtute destitui, interius exteriusque custodi: ut ab omnibus adversitatibus muniamur in corpore, et a pravis cogitationibus mundemur in mente. Per Dominum.
Tell the vision ye have seen to no man, till the Son of Man be risen from the dead.
Let us Pray.
O God, who seest how destitute we are of all strength, preserve us both within and without, that our bodies may be free from all adversity, and our souls purified from all evil thoughts. Through, &c.
We may close our Sunday by reciting the following beautiful prayer taken from the Mozarabic breviary.
Capitulum
(In II. Dominica Quadragesimæ)
Christe Deus, luminis perenne principium, qui septimum diei curriculum sanctificatione potius quam operatione voluisti esse confitentium; quærimus ecce faciem tuam, sed impedimur conscientiæ nostræ tenebra consueta: conamur adsurgere, sed relabimur in mœrorem; non ergo abjicias te quærentes, qui non quærentibus apparere dignatus es. Ecce dierum nostrorum decimas sancto tuo nomini annuis recursibus persolventes, septimum nunc ex ipsis decimis peregimus diem; da ergo nobis adjutorium in hujus laboriosi itineris via, quo inlibata tibi nostra dedicentur obsequia: ut labores nostros amoris tui desiderio releves, et socordiam sensus nostri fervida dilectionis tuæ ubertate exsuscites: ut in te vita nostra non habeat casum, sed fides inveniat præmium.
O Jesus, our God, eternal first beginning of light, who willedst that thy servants should devote the seventh day to sanctification, rather than to work: lo! we come, seeking how we may find thee, but we are prevented by the habitual darkness of our conscience; we make efforts to arise, but we fail back again, and are dejected. Therefore, we beseech thee, cast not away from thy face them that seek thee, for thou didst deign to show thyself to them that did not seek thee. Now is the season of the year, when we are offering to thy holy name a tithe of our days; and of these days, seven have passed: grant us thine assistance in the path of this fatiguing journey, that so our proffered homage may be without blemish. Sweeten our toil by filling us with an ardent love of thy Majesty, and awaken us from the sluggishness of the body, by the fervent abundance of thy charity. May our life, being thus in thee, know no faltering, and our faith find its reward.
[1] St. Matt. xvi. 16.
[2] 1 Cor. i. 23.
[3] St. Matt. xxvi 31.
[4] Ps. lxxxviii. 13.
[5] St. Matt. xxvi. 38.
[6] Ibid. 43.
[7] Ps. xxi 7.
[8] Is. liii. 3. 4.
[9] Apoc. v. 12.
[10] 1 Cor. X. 13.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
THE Station is in the church of Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr. In this, more than in any other church of the city of Rome, there has been preserved the ancient arrangement of the early Christian basilicas. Under its altar reposes the body of its holy patron, together with the relics of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, and of the consul St. Flavius Clemens.
Collect
Præsta quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut familia tua quæ se, affligendo camera, ab ali mentis abstinet, sectando justitiam, a culpa jejunet. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that thy people who mortify themselves by abstinence from meat, may likewise fast from sin, and follow righteousness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio Danielis Prophetæ.
Cap. ix.
In diebus illis: Oravit Daniel Dominum, dicens: Domine, Deus noster, qui eduxisti populum tuum de terra Ægypti in manu forti, et fecisti tibi nornen secundum diem hane: peccavimus, iniquitatem feeimus, Domine, in omnem justitiam tuam. Avertatur, obsecro, ira tua et furor tuus a civitate tua Jerusalem, et a monte eaneto tuo. Propter peccata enim nostra, et iniquitates patnim nostrorum, Jerusalem et populus tuus in opprobrium sunt omnibus per circuitum nostrum. Nano ergo exaudi, Deus noster, orationem servi tui et preces ej us: et ostende faciem tuam super sanctuarium tuum, quod desertum est, propter temetipsum. Inclina, Deus meus, aurem tuam, et audi: aperi oculos tuos, et vide desolationem nostram, et civitatem super quam invocatum est nomen tuum: neque enim in justifiGationibus nostris prostemimus preces ante faciem tuam, sed in miserationibus tuis multis. Exaudi, Domine; placare, Domine: attende et fac: ne moreris, propter temetipsum Deus meus: quia nornen tuum invocatum est super civitatem et super populum tuum, Domine Deus noster.
Lesson from the Prophet Daniel.
Ch. ix.
In those days: Daniel prayed to the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, who hast brought forth thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity, O Lord, against all thy justice. Let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. For, by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are a reproach to all that are round about us. Now, therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and show thy face upon thy sanctuary which is desolate, for thy own sake. Incline, O my God, thy ear and hear: open thine eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, be appeased; hearken, and do; delay not for thy own sake, O my God; because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people, O Lord our God.
Such was the prayer and lamentation of Daniel, during the captivity in Babylon. His prayer was heard; and, after seventy years of exile, the Jews returned to their country, rebuilt the temple, and were once more received by the Lord as His chosen people. But what are the Israelites now? What has been their history for the last eighteen hundred years? The words of Daniel’s lamentation but faintly represent the sad reality of their present long chastisement. God’s anger lies heavily on Jerusalem; the very ruins of the temple have perished; the children of Israel are dispersed over the whole earth, a reproach to all nations. A curse hangs over this people; like Cain, it is a wanderer and a fugitive; and God watches over it, that it become not extinct.
The rationalist is at a loss how to explain this problem: whereas the Christian sees in it the punishment of the greatest of crimes. But what is the explanation of this phenomenon? The light shone in darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it![1] If the darkness had received the light, it would not be darkness now; but it was not so; Israel, therefore, deserved to be abandoned. Several of its children did, indeed, acknowledge the Messias, and they became children of the light; nay, it is through them that the light was made known to the whole world. When will the rest of Israel open its eyes? When will this people address to God the prayer of Daniel? They have it; they frequently read it; and yet, it finds no response in their proud hearts. Let us, the Gentiles, pray for the Jews— the younger for the elder. Every year there are some who are converted, and seek admission into the new Israel of the Church of Christ. Right welcome are they! May God, in His mercy, add to their number; that thus all men may adore the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, together with Jesus Christ, His Son, whom He sent into this world.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.
Cap. viii.
In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus turbis Judæorum: Ego vado, et quæretis me, et in peccato vestro moriemini. Quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire. Dicebant ergo Judæi: Numquid interficiet semetipsum, quia dixit: Quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire? Et dicebateis: Vos de deorsum estie; ego de euperme sum. Vos de mundo hoc estis; ego non sum de hoc mundo. Dixi ergo vobis, quia moriemini in pcccatis vestris: si enim non credideritis quia ego sum, moriemini in peccato vestro. Dicebant ergo ei: Tu quis es? Dixit eis Jesus: Principium, qui et loquor vobis. Multa habeo de vobis loqui, et judicare. Sed qui me misit, verax est; et ego quæ audivi ab eo, hæc loquor in mundo. Et non cognoverunt quia Patrem ejus dicebat Deum. Dixit ergo eis Jesus: Cum exaltaveritis Filium hominis, tunc cognoscetis quia ego sum, et a meipso fació nihil, sed sicut docuit me Pater, hæc loquor: et qui me misit, mecum est, et non reliquit me solum: quia ego, quæ placita sunt ei, facio semper.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.
Ch. viii.
At that time: Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews: I go, and you shall seek me, and you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come. The Jews, therefore, said: Will he kill himself, because he said: Whither I go, you cannot come? And he said to them: You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin. They said therefore to him: Who art thou? Jesus said to them: The beginning, who also speak unto you. Many things I have to speak and to judge of you. But he that sent me is true; and the things I have heard of him, these same I speak in the world. And they understood not that he called God his Father. Jesus therefore said to them: W’hen you shall have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father hath taught me, these things I speak: and he that sent me is with me, and he hath not left me alone: for I do always the things that please him.
I go; could Jesus say anything more awful? He has come to save this people; He has given them every possible proof of His love. A few days ago, we heard Him saying to the Canaanite woman, that He was sent not but for the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. Alas; these lost sheep disown their Shepherd. He tells the Jews that He is soon going to leave them, and that they will not be able to follow Him; but it makes no impression on them. His works testify that He is from above; they, the Jews, are of this world, and they can think of no other. The Messias they hope for, is to be one of great earthly power; he is to be a great conqueror. In vain, then, does Jesus go about doing good;[2] in vain is nature obedient to His commands; in vain do His wisdom and teaching exceed all that mankind has ever heard: Israel is deaf and blind. The fiercest passions are raging in his heart; nor will he rest, till the Synagogue shall have imbrued its hands in the blood of Jesus. But then the measure of iniquity will be filled up, and God’s anger will burst upon Israel in one of the most terrible chastisements that the world has ever witnessed. It makes one tremble to read the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem, and the massacre of that people that had clamoured for the death of Jesus. Our Lord assures us that nothing more terrible had ever been from the beginning of the world, or ever would be.[3]
God is patient; He waits a long time: but when His anger bursts upon a guilty people like the Jews, the chastisement is without mercy, and serves as an example to future generations. O sinners! you who, so far, have turned a deaf ear to the admonitions of the Church, and have refused to be converted to the Lord your God, tremble at these words of Jesus: I go. If this Lent is to be spent like so many others, and to leave you in your present state, are you not afraid of that terrible threat: You shall die in your sin? By remaining in your sins, you number yourselves with those who cried out against Jesus: ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’ Oh! if He chastised a whole people—a people that He had loaded with favours, and protected and saved innumerable times—think you, He will spare you? He must triumph; if it be not by mercy, it will be by justice.
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Adesto supplicationibus nostris, omnipotens Deus: et quibue fiduciam sperandæ pietatis indulges: consuetæ misericordiæ trihue berlignus effectum. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.
Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Hear our prayers and entreaties, O almighty God; and grant that those, to whom thou givest hopes of thy mercy, may experience the effects of thy usual clemency. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
We will begin to-day the beautiful hymn of Prudentius on fasting. Its extreme length obliges us to divide it into fragments. We reserve the stanzas which refer to the fast of Ninive for Monday in Passion-week. Formerly, several Churches of the Roman rite introduced this hymn into the Divine Office, but they only made a selection from it; whereas the Mozarabic breviary gives the whole hymn from beginning to end.
Hymn
O Nazarene, lux Bethlem, verbum Patris,
Quem partus alvi virginalis protulit,
Adesto castis, Christe, parcimoniis,
Festumque nostrum Rex serenus aspice,
Jejuniorum dum litamus victimam.
Nil hoc profecto purius mysterio,
Quo fibra cordis expiatur vividi:
Intemperata quo domantur viscera,
Arvina putrem ne resudans crapulam,
Obstrangulatæ mentis ingenium premat.
Hino subjugatur luxus et turpis gula;
Vini, atque somni degener socordia,
Libido sordens, inverecundus lepos,
Variæque pestes languidorum sensuum
Parcam subactæ disciplinam sentiunt.
Nam si licenter diffluene potu, et cibo,
Jejuna rite membra non coerceas,
Sequitur, frequenti marcida oblectamine
Scintilla mentis ut tepescat nobilis,
Animusque pigris stertat in præcordiis.
Frænentur ergo corporum cupidincs,
Detersa et intus emicet prudentia:
Sic excitato perspicaz acumine,
Liberque flatu laxiore spiritus
Rerum parentem rectius precabitur.
O Jesus of Nazareth, O Light of Bethlehem, O Word of the Father,
born to us from a Virgin’s womb,
be thou with us in our chaste abstinence.
Do thou, our King, look with a propitious eye upon our feast,
whereon we offer thee the tribute of our fast.
Truly, nothing can be more holy than this fast,
which purifies the inmost recesses of man’s heart.
By it is tamed the unruly carnal appetite;
that thus the ardent soul may not be choked
by the surfeiting of a pampered body.
By fasting are subdued luxury and vile gluttony.
The drowsiness that comes of wine and sleep;
lust with its defilements; the impudence of buffoonery;
yea, all the pests that come from our sluggish flesh,
are hereby disciplined into restraint.
For, if thou freely indulgest in meat and drink,
and bridlest not thine appetite by fasting, it needs must be
that the noble fire of the spirit, smothered by the frequent indulgence of the body,
should grow dull, and the soul,
like the drowsy flesh it inhabits, fall into heavy sleep.
Therefore, let us bridle our bodily desires,
and follow the clear interior light of prudence.
Thus, the soul having her sight made keener,
will breathe more freely,
and will pray to the Creator with the stronger hope.
[1] St. John i. 5.
[2] Acts x. 38.
[3] St. Matt, xxiv. 21.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
THE Station is in the church of Saint Balbina. This holy virgin of Rome was the daughter of the tribune Quirinus, and suffered martyrdom during the pontificate of Alexander I., in the second century. She consecrated her virginity to God, and led a life rich in good works.
Collect
Perfice, quæsumus, Domine, benignus in nobis observantiæ sanctæ subsidium: ut quæ, te auctore, facienda cognovimus, te operante impleamus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Grant us, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy assistance, whereby we may go through the observance of this holy fast, that what we have undertaken by thy appointment, we may accomplish by thy grace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio libri Regum.
III. Cap. xvii.
In diebus illis: Factus est sermo Domini ad Eliam Thesbiten, dicens: Surge, et vade in Sarephta Sidoniorum, et manebis ibi: præcepi enim ibi mulieri viduæ ut pascat te. Surrexit et abiit in Sarephta. Cumque venisset ad portam civitatis, apparuit ei mulier vidua colligens ligna, et vocavit eam, dixitque ei: Da mihi paululum aquæ in vase, ut bibam. Cumque ilia pergeret ut afierret, clamavit post tergum ejus dicens: After mihi, obsecro, et bucel1am panis in manu tua. Quæ respondit: Vivifc Dominus Deus tuus, quia non habeo panem, nisi quantum pugillus capere potest farinæ in hydria, et paululum olei in lecytho: en colligo duo ligna ut ingrediar et faciam illud mihi et filio meo, ut comedamus, et moriamur. Ad quam Elias ait: Noli timere, sed vade, et fac sicut dixisti: verumtamen mihi primum fac de ipsa farinula subcinericium panem parvulum, et after ad me: tibi autem et filio tuo facies postea. Hæc autem dicit Dominus Deus Israël: Hydria farinæ non deficiet, nec lecythus olei minuetur usque ad diem in qua Dominus daturus est pluviam super faciem terræ. Quæ abiit, et fecit juxta verbum Eliæ; et comedit ipse, et illa, et domus ejus: et ex illa die hydria farinæ non defecit, et lecythus olei non est imminutus, juxta verbum Domini, quod locutus fuerat in manu Eliæ.
Lesson from the Book of Kings.
III. Ch. xvii.
In those days: The word of the Lord came to Elias the Thesbite, saying: Arise, and go to Sarephta of the Sidonians, and dwell there; for I have commanded a widow woman there to feed thee. He arose and went to Sarephta. And when he was come to the gate of the city, he saw the widow woman gathering sticks, and he called her, and said to her: Give me a little water in a vessel that I may drink. And when she was going to fetch it, he called after her, saying: Bring me also, I beseech thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand. And she answered: As the Lord thy God liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot, and a little oil in a cruse; behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elias said to her: Fear not, but go, and do as thou hast said; but first make for me of the same meal a little hearth cake, and bring it to me: and after, make for thyself and thy son. For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruse of oil be diminished, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the earth. She went, and did according to the word of Elias; and he ate, and she, and her house: and from that day the pot of meal wasted not, and the cruse of oil was not diminished, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Elias.
The instruction of the catechumens is continued by means of the Gospel facts, which are each day brought before them; and the Church reads to them the prophecies from the old Testament, which are to be fulfilled by the rejection of the Jews, and the vocation of the Gentiles. Elias, who is our faithful companion during Lent, is represented to us to-day as foreshadowing, in his own conduct, the treatment which God is one day to show towards His ungrateful people. A three years’drought had been sent upon the kingdom of Israel; but the people continued obstinate in their sins. Elias goes in search of some one that will provide him with food. It is a great privilege to entertain the prophet; for God is with him. Then, whither will he go? Is it to any family in the kingdom of Israel? Or will he pass into the land of Juda? He neglects them both, and directs his steps towards the land of the Gentiles. He enters the country of Sidon; and coming to the gates of a city called Sarephta, he sees a poor widow; it is to her that he transfers the blessing which Israel had rejected. Our Lord Himself has taken notice of this event in the prophet’s life, which portrays, in such strong colours, the justice of God towards the Jews, and His mercy towards us Gentiles: ‘In truth I say to you, there were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel: and to none of them was he sent, but to Sarephta of Sidon, to a widow woman.’[1]
So, then, this poor woman is a figure of the Gentiles, who were called to the faith. Let us study the circumstances of this prophetic event. The Woman is a widow; she has no one to defend or protect her: she represents the Gentiles, who were abandoned by all, and had no one that could save them from the enemy of mankind. All the mother and her child have to live upon, is a handful of meal and a little oil: it is an image of the frightful dearth of truth, in which the pagans were living at the time when the Gospel was preached to them. Notwithstanding her extreme poverty, the widow of Sarephta receives the prophet with kindness and confidence; she believes what he tells her, and she and her child are saved: it is thus that the Gentiles welcomed the apostles, when these shook the dust from their feet and left the faithless Jerusalem. But what mean the two pieces of wood, which the widow holds in her hands? St. Augustine, St. Cesarius of Arles, and St. Isidore of Seville (who, after all, are but repeating what was the tradition of the early Church), tell us that this wood is a figure of the cross. With this wood the widow bakes the bread that is to support her; it is from the cross that the Gentiles receive life by Jesus, who is the living Bread. Whilst Israel dies of famine and drought, the Gentile Church feeds abundantly on the heavenly wheat, and on the oil, which is the symbol of strength and charity. Glory then be to Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light[2] of faith! But let us tremble at witnessing the evils which the abuse of grace has brought upon a whole people. If God in His justice has not spared a whole nation, but cast it off; will He spare you or me, if we dare to resist His call?
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthæum.
Cap. xxiii.
In illo tempore: Locutus est Jesus ad turbas, et ad discipulos suos, dicens: Super cathedram Moysi sederunt scribæ et pharisæi. Omnia ergo quæcumque dixerint vobis, servato et facite: secundum opera vero eorum nolite facere: dicunt enim et non faciunt. Alli· gant enim onera gravia, et importabilia, et imponunt in humeros hominum: digito autem suo nolunt ea movere. Omnia vero opera sua faciunt ut videantur ab hominibus; dilatant enim phylacteria sua, et magnificant fimbrias. Amant autem primos reoubitus in cænis,et primas cathedras dras in synagogis, et salutationes in foro, et vocari ab hominibujB Rabbi. Vos autem nolite vocari Rabbi. Unus est enim Magister vester, omnes autem vos fratres estis. Et patrem nolite vocare vobis super terrain: unus est enim Pater vester qui in cœlis est. Nec vocemini magistri: quia Magister vester unus est, Chris tus. Qui major est vest rum, erit minister vester. Qui autem se exaltaverit, humiliabitur: et qui se humiliaverit, exaltabitur.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Ch. xxiii.
At that time: Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying: The scribes and the pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do; but according to their works, do ye not; for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but with a finger of theit own they will not move them. And all their works they do to be seen of men: for they make their phylacteries broad, and enlarge their fringes. And they love the first places at feasts, and the first chaira in the synagogues, and salutations in the marketplace, and to be called by men, Rabbi. But be not you called Rabbi; for one is your master, and all you are brethren. And call none your father upon earth; for one is your Father, who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, Christ. He that is the greatest among you, shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
The doctors of the law were sitting on the chair of Moses; therefore, Jesus bids the people abide by their teachings. But this chair—which, in spite of the unworthiness of them that sit on it, is the chair of truth—is not to remain long in Israel. Caiphas, because he is a high priest for the year, will prophesy; but his crimes have rendered him unworthy of his office; and the chair, on which he sits, is to be taken away and set in the midst of the Gentiles. Jerusalem, which is preparing to deny her Saviour, is to be deprived of her honours; and Rome, the very centre of the pagan world, is to possess within her walls that chair which was the glory of Jerusalem, and from which were proclaimed the prophecies so visibly fulfilled in Jesus. Henceforth, this chair is never to be moved, though all the fury of the gates of hell will seek to prevail against it; it is to be the unfailing source, at which all nations are to receive the teaching of revealed truth. The torch of faith has been removed from Israel, but it has not been extinguished. Let us live in its light, and merit by our humility that its rays ever shine upon us.
What is it that caused Israel’s loss? His pride. The favours he had received from God excited him to self-complacency; he scorned to recognize any one for the Messias, who was not great in this world’s glory; he was indignant at hearing Jesus say that the Gentiles were to participate in the grace of redemption; he sought to imbrue his hands in the Blood of the God-Man, and this because He reproached him for the hardness of his heart. These proud Jews, even when they saw that the day of God’s judgment was close upon them, kept up their stubborn haughtiness. They despised the rest of the world as unclean and sinners. The Son of God became the Son of Man. He is our Master, and yet He ministered to us, as though He were our Servant. Does not this show us how precious a virtue is humility? If our fellow-creatures call us master or father, let us not forget that no one is master or father but by God’s appointment. No one deserves to be called master, but he by whose lips Jesus gives us the lessons of divine wisdom; he alone is truly a father, who acknowledges that his paternal authority comes from God alone; for the apostle says: ‘I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named.’[3]
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Propitiare, Domine, supplication bus nostris, et animarum nostrarum medere languoribus: ut remissione percepta, in tua semper benedictione lætemur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Be appeased, O Lord, by our prayers, and heal the infirmities of our souls: that our sins being forgiven, we may ever rejoice in thy blessings. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us continue the hymn which we began yesterday; our readers will remember that it is by Prudentius, the prince of Christian poets.
Hymn
Helia tali crevit observantia,
Vetue sacerdos runs hospes aridi:
Fragore ab omni quem remotum et segregem
Sprevisse tradunt crimmum frequentiam?
Cateo fruentem syrtium silentio.
Sed mox in auras igneis jugalibus,
Curruque raptus evolavit præpeti,
Ne de propinquo eordium contagio
Dims quietum mundus afflaret virum,
Olim probatis inclytum jejuniis.
Non ante cœli Principem septemplicis
Moses tremendi fidus interpres throni
Potuit viderp, quam decem recursibus
Quater volutis sol peragrans sidera,
Omni carentem cerneret substantia.
Victus precan ti solus in lacrymis fuit:
Nam flendo pemox irrigatum pulverem,
Humi madentis ore pressit cemuo:
Donee loquentis voce præstrictus Dei
Expavit ignem non ferendum visibus.
Joannes hujus artis haud minus potens,
Dei perennis præcucurrit Filium,
Curvos viarum qui retorsit tramites,
Et flexuosa corrigens dispendia,
Dedit sequendam calle recto lineam.
Hanc obsequelam præparabat nuncius,
Mox affuturo construens iter Deo,
Clivosa planis, confragosa ut lenibus
Converterentur, neve quidquam devium
Illapsa terns in veniret Veritas.
Non usitatis ortus hic natalibus,
Oblita lactis jam vieto in pectore
Matris tetendit serus infans ubera:
Nec ante partu de senili effusus est,
Quam prædicaret Virginem plenam Deo.
Post in patentes ille solitudines,
Amictus hirtis bestiarum pellibus,
Setisve tectus, hispida et lanugine,
Secessit,. horrens inquinan ac pollui
Contaminatis oppidorum moribus.
Illic dicata parcus abstinentia,
Potum, cibumque vir severæ industriæ
In usque serum respuebat vesperum,
Parvum locustis, et favorum agrestium
Liquore pastum corpori suetus dare.
Hortator ille primus et doctor novæ
Fuit salutis: nam sacrato in flumine
Veterum piatas lavit errorum notas:
Sed tincta postquam membra defæcaverat,
Cœlo refulgena influebat Spiritus.
It was by the observance of a forty-days’ fast,
that Elias the venerable priest, the guest of the desert,
received his great glory.
We read that he fled far from the noisy world, and the wickedness of cities,
and lived in the happy innocence of silent deserts.
But soon was he carried to heaven in a chariot drawn by swift fiery steeds;
for so long as he remained nigh this wretched world,
it might breathe something of the contagion of its vices upon the prophet,
though his life was one of retirement,
and his spirit had long been fortified by holy fasts.
Moses, the faithful interpreter of the dread throne,
was not permitted to see
the King of the seventimes holy heaven,
until the sun had forty times passed over his head
and witnessed him abstaining from every food.
Prayer and weeping, these were his only nourishment.
He spent the night in weeping, and lay prostrate on the ground,
which was bedewed with his tears:
till at length, aroused by the voice of God,
he directed his steps towards the fire on which no man could fix his gaze.
John, too, was fervent in the practice of fasting.
He was the precursor of the Son of God,
who was to make the crooked ways straight,
and the rough ways plain,
and was to teach men the right path wherein to walk
The Baptist, as a herald that was preparing the way
of the Lord who was soon to come, exacted this of men:
that every mountain and hill should be made low,
and that all should be in the right path,
when Truth should come down upon the earth.
His birth was not like that of other children. Elizabeth,
old as she was, was made to bear this child within her
hitherto barren womb. She fed him, too, at her own breast.
Before his birth, he announced to his mother
the presence of the Virgin that was full of God.
He retired into the vast wilderness,
clad in the rough and bristly skins of wild beasts,
and in camels’ hair; for he trembled
lest he might become defiled and contaminated
by the wickedness of them that dwelt in cities.
There did he lead a life of fasting.
This man of rigid penance neither ate nor drank
till the evening was far spent;
and then, a few locusts and a little wild honey
were the only refreshment he took.
He was the first to teach the new salvation,
and the first to invite men to receive it.
In the sacred stream, he washed away the stains of the old errors;
but after he had administered to men this outward baptism,
the heavenly Spirit worked within their souls.
[1] St. Luke iv. 25, 26.
[2] 1 St. Peter ii. 9.
[3] Eph. iii. 14, 15.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
THE Station is in the basilica of Saint Cecily. This church, one of the most venerable in Rome, was the house of the illustrious virgin and martyr whose name it bears. The body of Saint Cecily is under the high altar, together with those of Saints Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus, and of the holy Popes Urban and Lucius, all martyrs.
Collect
Populum tuum, quæsumus, Domine, propitius respice: et quos ab escis carnalibue præcipis abstinere, a noxiis quoque vitiis cessare concede. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Mercifully regard thy people, O Lord, we beseech thee; and grant that those whom thou commandest to abstain from flesh, may likewise cease from all sin. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio libri Esther.
Cap. xiii.
In diebus illus: Oravit Mardochæus ad Dominum, dicens: Domine, Domine, Rex omnipotens, in ditione enim tua cuneta sunt posita, et non est qui possit tuæ resistero voluntad, si decreveris salvare Israël. Tu fecisti cœlum et terrain, et quidquid cœli ambitu continetur. Dominus omnium es, nec est qui resistat majestad tuæ. Et nunc, Domine Rex, Deus Abraham, miserere populi tui, quia volunt nos inimici nostri perdere, et hæreditatem tuam delere. Ne despicias partern tuam, quam redemisti tibi de Ægypto. Exaudi deprecationem meam, et propitius esto sorti et funiculo tuo, et converte luctum nostrum in gaudium, ut viventes laudemus nornen tuum, Domine, et ne claudas ora te canentium, Domine Deus noster.
Lesson from the Book of Esther.
Ch. xiii.
In those days: Mardochai besought the Lord, and said: O Lord, Lord, almighty King, for all things are in thy power, and there is none that can resist thy will, if thou determine to save Israel. Thou hast made heaven and earth, and all things that are under the cope of heaven. Thou art Lord of all, and there is none that can resist thy majesty. And now, O Lord, O King, O God of Abraham, have mercy on thy people, because our enemies resolve to destroy us, and extinguish thine inheritance. Despise not thy portion, which thou hast redeemed for thyself out of Egypt. Hear my supplication and be merciful to thy lot and inheritance, and turn our mourning into joy, that we may live and praise thy name, O Lord, and shut not the mouths of them that sing to thee, O Lord, our God.
This petition, which Mardochai presented to God in favour of a whole nation that was doomed to destruction, represents the prayers which the saints of the old Testament offered for the salvation of the world. The human race was, to a great extent, in the power of satan, who is figured by Aman. The almighty King had given sentence against mankind: ‘Ye shall die the death.’Who was there that could induce Him to revoke the sentence? Esther made intercession with Assuerus, her lord; and she was heard. Mary presented herself before the throne of the eternal God: and it is she that, by her divine Son, crushes the head of the serpent, who was to have tormented us for ever. The sentence, then, is to be annulled; all shall live that wish to live.
To-day we have the Church praying for her children who are in the state of sin. She trembles at seeing them in danger of being eternally lost. She intercedes for them, and she uses Mardochai’s prayer. She humbly reminds her divine Spouse, that He has redeemed them out of Egypt; and, by Baptism, has made them His members, His inheritance. She beseeches Him to change their mourning into joy, even into the great Easter joy. She says to Him: Oh! shut not the mouths of them that sing to Thee! It is true, these poor sinners have in past times offended their God by word, as well as by deed and thought; but now they speak but words of humble prayer for mercy; and, when they shall have been pardoned, how fervently will they sing to their divine Deliverer, and bless Him in canticles of grateful love!
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthæum.
Cap. xx.
In illo tempore: Ascendena Jesus Jerosolymam, assumpsit duodecim discipulos secreto, et ait illis: Ecce ascendimus Jerosolymam, et Filius hominis tradetur principibus sacerdotum et scribis, et condemnabunt eum morte, et tradent eum gentibus ad illudendum, et flagellandum, et crucifigendum, et tertia die resurget. Tunc accessit ad eum mater filiorum Zebedæi cum filiis suis, adorans et petens aliquid ab eo. Qui dixit ei: Quid vis? Ait illi: Die ut sedeant hi duo filii mei, unus ad dexteram tuam, et unus ad sinistram, in regno tuo. Respondens autem Jesus, dixit: Nescitis quid petatis. Potestis bibere calicem, quem ego bibiturus sum? Dicunt ei: Possumue. Ait illis: Calicem quidem meum bibetis: sedere autem ad dexteram meam vel sinistram, non est meum dare vobis, sed quibus paratum est a Patre meo. Et audientes decem, indignati sunt de duobus fratribus. Jesus autem vocavit eos ad se, et ait: Scitis quia principes gentium dominantur eorum: et qui majores sunt, potestatem exercent in eos. Non ita erit inter vos: sed quicumque voluerit inter vos major fieri, sit vester minister: et qui voluerit inter vos primus esse, erit vester servus. Sicut Filius hominis non venit ministran, sed ministrare, et dare animam suam redemptionem pro multis.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Ch. xx.
At that time: Jesus going up to Jersualem, took the twelve disciples apart, and said to them: Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified, and the third day he shall rise again. Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee, with her sons, adoring and asking something of him. Who said to her: What wilt thou? She saith to him: Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom. And Jesus answering, said: You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? They said to him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice, indeed, you shall drink; but to sit on my right or left hand, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father. And the ten hearing it, were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them to him, and said: You know that the princes of the gentiles lord it over them; and they that are the greater, exercise power over them. It shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be the greater among you, let him be your minister; and he that will be first among you, shall be your servant. Even as the Son of Man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many.
This is He that gave His own life in order to appease the anger of the almighty King, and redeem His people from death. It is Jesus, the Son of the new Esther, and the Son of God, who comes forward to humble the pride of Aman, at the very time when this perfidious enemy of ours is making sure of his victory. He goes up to Jerusalem, for it is there that the great battle is to be fought. He foretells to His disciples all that is to happen. He will be delivered up to the chief priests, who will condemn Him to death, and hand Him over to the Roman governor and soldiers. He will be mocked, scourged, and crucified; but He will rise again on the third day. The apostles heard this prophecy, for the Gospel says, that Jesus took the twelve apart, in order to tell them these things. Judas, consequently, was present; so were Peter, James, and John, the three that had witnessed the Transfiguration of their Master on Thabor, and had a clearer knowledge of His Divinity. And yet, all abandoned Him. Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied Him, and the whole flock fled away in fear, when the Shepherd was in the power of His enemies. Not one of them recollected how He had said that on the third day He would rise again: unless it were Judas, who was perhaps encouraged to commit his crime by the reflection that Jesus would soon triumph over His enemies and be again free. The rest could see no further than the scandal of the cross; that put an end to all their faith, and they deserted their Master. What a lesson for all future generations of Christians! How very few there are who look upon the cross, either for themselves or for others, as a sign of God’s special love!
We are men of little faith; we cannot understand the trials God sends to our brethren, and we are often tempted to believe that He has forsaken them, because He sends them the cross. We are men of little love, too; worldly tribulation seems an evil to us, and we think ourselves hardly dealt with, at the very time when our God is showing us the greatest mercy. We are like the mother of the sons of Zebedee: we would hold a high and conspicuous place near the Son of God, forgetting that we must first merit it, by drinking of the chalice that He drank, that is, the chalice of suffering. We forget, too, that saying of the apostle: ‘That we may be glorified with Jesus, we must suffer with Him!’[1] He, the just and All holy, entered not into His rest by honours, and pleasures:the sinner cannot follow Him, save by treading the path of penance.
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Deus, innocentiæ restitutor et amator, dirige ad te tuorum corda servorum: ut Spiritus tui fervore concepto, et in fide inveniantur stabiles, et in opere efficaces. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
O God, the restorer and lover of innocence, draw to thyself the hearts of thy servants, that being inflamed by thy holy Spirit, they may be constant in faith, and zealous in good works. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Christian poet continues his subject—the merits of fasting. To-day he is going to show us how Jesus consecrated it by His own practice of it.
Sed cur vetustæ gentis exemplum loquor?
Pridem caducis quum gravatus artubus
Jesus, dicato corde jejunaverit:
Prænuncupatus ore qui prophetico
Emmanuel est, sive nobiscum Deus.
Qui corpus istud molle naturaliter,
Captumque laxo sub voluptatum jugo,
Virtutis arcta lege fecit liberum,
Emancipator servientis plasmatis,
Regnantis ante victor et cupidinis.
Inhospitali namque secretus loco,
Quinis diebus octies labentibus,
Nullam ciborum vindicavit gratiam,
Firmans salubri scilicet jejunio
Vas appetendis imbecillum gaudiis.
Miratur hostis, posse limum tabidum
Tantum laboris sustinere ac perpeti.
Explorat arte sciscitator callida,
Deusne membris sit receptus terreis:
Sed, increpata fraude, post tergum ruit.
But why give I examples from the old Law?
Jesus, whom the prophet had announced to the world as the Emmanuel,
that is, God with us, when here on earth
sharing the miseries of our mortality,
fasted rigidly out of love for us.
’Twas he that by the stringent law of virtue,
set these our bodies free from their natural effeminacy,
and from the yoke of unbridled indulgence.
He emancipated his creatures from their slavery;
he conquered the tyrant concupiscence, that had reigned till then.
He withdrew into a desert place,
and for forty days refused himself the use of food.
By this salutary fast,
he strengthened the weakness of our bodies,
which crave after gratification.
The enemy wonders within himself how a frail body,
that is but clay, can bear and suffer pain as long and sharp as this.
He, by cunning craft, contrives a plot,
whereby to sift this Jesus, and see if he perchance be God in human form.
But, rebuked and foiled, he flees away with shame.
[1] Rom. viii. 17.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The Station for to-day is in the celebrated basilica, St. Mary’s across the Tiber. It was consecrated in the third century, under the pontificate of St. Callixtus, and was the first church built in Rome in honour of our blessed Lady.
Collect
Præsta nobis, quæsumus Domine, auxilium gratiæ tuæ, ut jejuniis et orationibus convenienter intenti, liberemur ab hostibus mentis et corporis. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord, the assistance of thy grace; that whilst we duly apply ourselves to fasting and prayer, we may be delivered from all enemies both of soul and body. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio Jeremiæ Prophetæ.
Cap. xvii.
Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Maledictus homo qui confidit in homine, et ponit carnem nem brachium euum, et a Domino recedit cor ejus. Erit enim quasi myricæ in deserto, et non videbit cum venerit bonum; sed habitant in siccitate in deserto, in terra salsuginis et inhabitabili. Benedictus vir, qui confidit in Domino, et erit Dominus fiducia ejus. Et erit quasi lignum quod transplantatur super aquas, quod ad humorem mittit radices euas: et non timebit cum venerit æstus. Et erit folium ejus viride, et in tempore siccitatis non erit sollicitum, nec aliquando desinet facere fructum. Pravum est cor omnium et inscrutabile: quis cognoscet illud? Ego Dominus scrutans cor, et probans renes; qui do unicuique juxta viam suam, et juxta fructum adinventionum suarum, dicit Dominus omnipotens.
Lesson from the Prophet Jeremias.
Ch. xvii.
Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like tamarick in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come; but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence. And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, and spreadeth out its roots towards moisture; and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit. The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable; who can know it? I am the Lord who search the heart, and prove the reins; who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices, said the Lord almighty.
The Epistle and Gospel for to-day are intended as instructions upon Christian morality. Let us, for a moment, turn away our eyes from the sad spectacle of the plot which is being formed against our Redeemer, by His enemies; let us, to-day, think of our own sins, and how to apply a remedy. The prophet Jeremias here gives us the description of two classes of men: to which class do we belong? There are some men who make flesh their arm; that is to say, they care only for this present life and for created things; and this disposition of mind necessarily leads them to frequent violations of the commandments of their Creator. It was so with US, when we sinned: we lost sight of our last end, and the threefold concupiscence blinded us. Let us lose no time, but return to the Lord our God; a delay might bring upon us that curse, which our prophet says overtakes the unrepenting sinner; he shall not see goody when good shall come. The holy season of Lent is fast advancing; the choicest graces are being daily offered us; woe to the man whose mind is distracted by the fashion of this world that passeth away,[1] and takes no thought for eternity and heaven, and, even in this time of grace, is like tamarick a worthless weed of the desert. Oh how numerous is this class! and how terrible is their spiritual indifference! Pray for them, O ye faithful children of the Church, pray for them without ceasing. Offer up your penances and your almsgivings for them. Despair not; and remember that, each year, many straying sheep are brought to the fold by such intercession as this.
The prophet next describes the man that trusteth in the Lord; his whole hope is in God, and his whole care is to serve Him and to do His blessed will. He is like a beautiful tree that is planted near a stream of water, with its leaf ever green, and its fruit abundant. ‘I have appointed you,’says our Redeemer, ‘that you should go, and should bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain. ’[2] Let us become this favoured and ever fruitful tree. The Church, during this holy time, is pouring out upon our hearts rich streams of God's grace: let us faithfully welcome them. The Lord searcheth the heart: if He find that our desire to be converted is sincere, what an Easter will the coming one be to us!
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam.
Cap. xvi.
In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus pharisaeis: Homo quidam erat dives, qui induebatur purpura et bysso: et epulabatur quotidie splendide. Et erat quidam mendicus, nomine Lazarus, qui jacebat ad januam ejus, ulceribus plenus, cupiens saturan de micis quæ cadebant de mensa divitis, et nemo illi dabat; sed et canes veniebant, et lingebant ulcera ejus. Factum est autem ut moreretur mendicus, et portaretur ab angelis in sinum Abrahæ. Mortuus est autem et dives, et sepultus est in inferno. Elevans autem oculos suos, cum esset in tormentis, vidit Abraham a longe, et Lazarum in sinu ejus: et ipse damans dixit: Pater Abraham miserere mei, et mitte Lazarum ut in tingat extremum digiti 8ui in aquam, ut ref rigeret linguam meam, quia crucior in hac flamma. Et dixit illi Abraham: Fili, recordare quia recepisti bona in vita tua, et Lazarus similiter mala: nunc autem hic consolatur, tu vero cruciaris. Et in his omnibus, inter nos et vos chaos magnum firmatum est: ut hi, qui volunt hinc transire ad vos, non possint, neque inde hue transmeare. Et ait: Rogo ergo te, pater, ut mittas eum in domum patris mei; habeo enim quinque fratres, ut testetur illis, ne et ipsi veniant in hunc locum tormento rum. Et ait illi Abraham: Habent Moysen et prophetas: audiant ülos. At ille dixit: Non, pater Abraham: sed si quis ex mortuis ierit ad eos, pœnitentiam agent. Ait autem illi: Si Moysen et prophetae non audiunt, neque si quis ex mortuis resurrexerit, credent.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Ch. xvi.
At that time: Jesus said to the pharisees: There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him: moreover the dogs came and licked hia sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died, and he was buried in hell. And lifting up his eyes, when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and .send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is fixed a great chaos; so that they who would pass from hence to you, cannot, nor from thence come hither. And he said: Then, father, I beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house; for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments. And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. But he said: No, father Abraham, but if any one went to them from the dead, they will do penance. And he said to him; If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead.
The commandments of God cannot be broken with impunity; he that sins shall be punished. This is the teaching of to-day’s Gospel; and after reading it, we exclaim with the apostle: ‘How fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God!’[3]What a terrible truth is here told us! A man is in the enjoyment of every comfort and luxury this life can give; when suddenly death surprises him, and he is buried in hell! In the midst of those eternal burnings, he asks for a drop of water, and that drop is refused him. Other men, whom he knew on earth a few hours ago, are now in the abode of eternal happiness, and a great chaosseparates him from them for ever. Oh, what misery! To be in despair for endless ages! And yet there are men that live and die without giving so much as one day to think upon hell! Happy, then, are they that fear, for this fear will aid them to lighten that weight of their sins, which would drag them into the bottomless pit.
Alas! what strange darkness has come upon the mind of man as a consequence of sin! People that are shrewd, and prudent, and far-sighted in everything that regards their temporal concerns, are mere idiots and fools in every question that regards eternity. Can we imagine anything more frightful than their surprise when they awaken in the next world and find themselves buried in hell? Observe, too, that our Saviour, in order to make His instruction more impressive, has not here described the condemnation of one whose crimes scandalize the neighbourhood, and make even worldlings look upon him as a sure prey of hell. The history He gives us is that of a man who led a quiet life; he was agreeable in company, and sought after; he was respected, and did honour to the position he held in society. He is not accused of any public scandals; there is no mention made of any atrocious crime; our Saviour simply says of him: he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day. It is true, he was not charitable to the poor man who lay at his gate; hut he did not ill-treat him: he allowed him to lie there, and did not even insult his misery. Why, then, was this rich man condemned to bum eternally in that fire which God created for the wicked? It is because a man who leads a life of luxury and feasting, such as he lived — never thinking of eternity, caring for nothing but this world, which we are told to use as though we used it not,[4] with nothing about him of the spirit of the cross of Christ—such a man as this is already a victim to the triple concupiscence of pride, avarice, and luxury; he is their slave, and seems determined to continue so, for he never makes an effort to throw off their tyranny. He has yielded himself up to them; and they have worked their work in him—the death of the soul. It was not enough that he should not ill-treat the poor man that sat at his gate, he ought to have shown him kindness and charity, for such is God’s commandment. His very dogs had more compassion than he; therefore, his condemnation and perdition were most just. But had he been told of his duty? Yes, he had the Scriptures; he had Moses and the prophets; nay more, he had Jesus and the Church. Men who are leading a life like this, are now surrounded by the graces of the holy season of Lent. What excuse will they have, if they so far neglect them, that they do not even give themselves the trouble to think of them? They will have turned their Lent into judgment against themselves, and it will have been but one great step nearer to eternal misery.
Humiliate capita veetra Deo.
Adesto, Domine, famulis tuis, et perpetuam benignitatem largire poscentibus: ut iis qui te auctore et gubematore gloriantur, et congregata restaures, et restaurata conserves. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Be favourable, O Lord, to thy servants, and hear their prayers in the grant of everlasting mercy; that glorying in thee their Creator and Governor, they may have all things perfected and perpetuated to them. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The hymn of Prudentius, which we have followed with so much interest during this week, thus closes:
Hymn
Hoc nos sequamur quisque nunc pro viribus,
Quod consecrati tu magister dogmatis
Tuis dedisti, Christe, sectatoribus;
Ut quum vorandi vicerit libidinem,
Late triumphet imperator spiritus.
Hoc est, quod atri livor hostis invidet,
Mundi, polique quod gubornator probat,
Altarie aram quod facit plac&bilem,
Quod dormientis excitat cordis fidem,
Quod limat ægram pectorum rubiginem.
Perfusa non sic amne flamma exstinguitur,
Nec sic calente sole tabescunt nives,
Ut turbidarum scabra culparum seges
Vanescit almo trita sub jejunio,
Si blanda semper misceatur largitas.
Est quippe et illud grande virtutis genus
Operire nudos, indigentes pascere,
Opem benignam ferre supplicantibus,
Unam paremque sortis humanæ vicern
Inter potentes, atque egenos ducere.
Satis beatus quisque dextram porrigit
Laudis rapacem, prodigam pecuniae,
Cujus sinistra dulce factum nesciat.
Ilium perennes protinus complent opes,
Ditatque fructus foenerantem centuplex.
O Jesus! Teacher of holy doctrine!
grant that we may all now walk courageously
in the path thou hast marked out for thy followers;
that our spirit, having subdued gluttony,
may in all things triumph and be master.
O blessed fasting! It is the object of the devil’s hatred:
it is dear to the King of earth and heaven;
it makes the great sacrifice of tho altar acceptable:
it stirs up the faith of the drowsy heart;
it takes from the soul the rust that clogs her power.
As fire is quenched by water,
or as snow is melted by a scorching sun;
so (but by a higher law) are the wild weeds of our base sins
uprooted by the sacred power of fasting,
when joined with charitable alms unstintingly bestowed.
For this, too, is a great virtue:
to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry,
to kindfy help the needy, and to behave towards all,
both rich and poor,
as members of the one great family of mankind.
Right blessed is he,
whose right hand works the praiseworthy deed of lavish alms,
but whose left hand knows not the sweet charity done!
Such a man shall receive eternal riches,
and interest a hundredfold shall be given to him who thus lends to the poor.
[1] 1 Cor. vii. 31.
[2] St. John xv. 16.
[3] Heb. X. 31.
[4] 1 Cor. vii. 31.