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.