Second Week of Lent
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The Station for to-day is in the church of Saint Vitalis, martyr, the father of the two illustrious Milanese martyrs, Saints Gervasius and Protasius.
Collect
Da, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus; ut sacro nos purificante jejunio, sinceris mentibus ad sancta ventura facias pervenire. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Grant, O almighty God, that being purified by this fast, we may come to the approaching solemnity with clean hearts. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio libri Genesis.
Ch. xxxvii.
In diebus illis: Dixit Joseph fratribus suis: Audite somnium meum quod vidi: Putabam nos ligare manipulos in agro: et quasi consurgere manipulum meum, et stare, vestrosque manipulos circumstantes adorare manipulum meum. Responderunt fratres ejus: Numquid rex noster eris? aut subjiciemur ditioni tuæ? Hæe ergo causa somniorum atque sermonum, invidiæ et odii fomitem ministra vit. Aliud quoque vidit somnium, quod narrans fratribus ait; Vidi per somnium quasi solem, et lunam, et Stellas undecim adorare me,Quod quum patri suo et fratribue retulisset, increpavit eum pater suns, et dixit: Quid sibi vult hoc somnium quod vidisti? Num ego, et mater tua, et fratres tui adorabimus te super terram? Invidebant ei igitur fratres sui: pater vero rem tacitus considerabat. Cumque fratres illiue in pascendis gregibus patris morarentur in Sichem, dixit ad eum Israël: Fratres tui pascunt oves in Siohimie: veni, mittam te ad eos. Quo respondente: Præsto sum; ait ei: Vade, et vide si cuneta prospera sint erga fratres tuos, et pecora: et renuntia mihi quid agatur. Missus de valle Hebron, venit in Sichem: invenitque eum vir errantem in agro, et interrogavit quid quæreret. At ille respondit: Fratres meos quæro: indica mihi ubi paecant greges. Dixitque ei vir: Recesserunt de loco isto; audivi autem eos dicentes: Eamus in Dothain. Perrexit ergo Joseph post fratres suos, et invenit eos in Dothain. Qui cum vidissent eum procul, antequam accederet ad eos, cogitaverunt ilium occidere, et mutuo loquebantur: Ecce somniator venit: venite, occidamus eum, et mittamus in cistemam veterem: dicemusque: Fera pessima devoravit eum, et tune apparebit quid illi prosint somnia sua. Audiens autem hoc Ruben, nitebatur liberare eum de manibus eorum, et dicebat: Non interficiatis animam ejus, nec effundatis sanguinem; sed projicite eum in cisternam hane, quæ est in solitudine, manusque vestras servate innoxias. Hoc autem dicebat, volens eripere eum de manibus eorum, et reddere patri suo.
Lesson from the Book of Genesis.
Cap. xxxvii.
In those days: Joseph said to his brethren: Hear my dream which I have dreamed. I thought we were binding sheaves in the field; and my sheaf arose, as it were, and stood, and your sheaves, standing about, bowed down before my sheaf. His brethren answered: Shalt thou be our king? or shall we be subject to thy dominion? Therefore this matter of his dreams and words ministered nourishment to their envy and hatred. He dreamed also another dream, which he told his brethren, saying: I saw in a dream, as it were, the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars, worshipping me. And when he had told this to his father and brethren, his father rebuked him and said: What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed? shall I and thy mother, and thy brethren, worship thee upon the earth? His brethren therefore envied him, but his father considered the thing with himself. And when his brethren abode in Sichem, feeding their father’s flocks, Israel said to him: Thy brethren feed the sheep in Sichem; come, I will send thee to them. And when he answered: I am ready; he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well with thy brethren and the cattle, and bring me word again what is doing. So being sent from the vale of Hebron, he came to Sichem. And a man found him there wandering in the field, and asked him what he sought. But he answered: I seek my brethren; tell me where they feed their flocks. And the man said to him: They are departed from this place; for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothain. And Joseph went forward after his brethren, and found them in Dothain. And when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh them, they thought to kill him, and said one to another: Behold the dreamer cometh; come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit: and we will say: Some evil beast hath devoured him: and then it shall appear what his dreams avail him. And Ruben hearing this, endeavoured to deliver him out of their hands, and said: Do not take away his life, nor shed his blood; but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and keep your hands harmless. Now he said this, being desirous to deliver him out of their hands, and to restore him to his father.
To-day the Church reminds us of the apostasy of the Jewish nation, and of the consequent vocation of the Gentiles. This instruction was intended for the catechumens; let us, also, profit by it. The history here related from the old Testament is a figure of what we read in to-day’s Gospel. Joseph is exceedingly beloved by his father Jacob, not only because he is the child of his favourite spouse Rachel, but also because of his innocence. Prophetic dreams have announced the future glory of this child: but he has brothers; and these brothers, urged on by jealousy, are determined to destroy him. Their wicked purpose is not carried out to the full; but it succeeds at least this far, that Joseph will never more see his native country. He is sold to some merchants. Shortly afterwards, he is cast into prison; but he is soon set free, and is made the ruler, not of the land of Chanaan that had exiled him, but of a pagan country, Egypt. He saves these poor Gentiles from starvation, during a most terrible famine, nay, he gives them abundance of food, and they are happy under his government. His very brothers, who persecuted him, are obliged to come down into Egypt, and ask food and pardon from their victim. We easily recognize in this wonderful history our divine Redeemer, Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary. He was the victim of His own people’s jealousy, who refused to acknowledge in Him the Messias foretold by the prophets, although their prophecies were so evidently fulfilled in Him. Like Joseph, Jesus is the object of a deadly conspiracy; like Joseph, He is sold. He traverses the shadow of death, but only to rise again, full of glory and power. But it is no longer on Israel that He lavishes the proofs of His predilection; He turns to the Gentiles, and with them He henceforth dwells. It is to the Gentiles that the remnant of Israel will come seeking Him, when, pressed by hunger after the truth, they are willing to acknowledge, as the true Messias, this Jesus of Nazareth, their King, whom they crucified.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthæum.
Cap. xxi.
In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus turbis Judæorum, et principibus sacerdotum parabolam hane: Homo erat paterfamilias, qui plantavit vineam, et sepem circumdedit ei, et fodit in ea torcular, et ædifieavit turrim, et locavit eam agricolis, et peregre profectus est. Cum autem tempus fructuum appropinquasset, misit servos suos ad agricolas, ut acciperent fructus ejus. Et agricolæ, apprehensis servis ejus, alium ceciderunt, alium occiderunt, alium vero lapidaverunt. Iterum misit alios servos plures priori bus, et fecerunt illis similiter. Novissime autem misit ad eos filium suum, dicens: Verebuntur filium meum. Agricolæ autem videntes filium, dixerunt intra se: Hic est hæres: venite, occidamus eum, et habebimus hæreditatem ejus. Et apprehensum eum ejecerunt extra vineam, et occiderunt. Cum ergo venerit dominus vineae, quid faciet agricolis illis? Aiunt illi: Malos male perdet: et vineam suam locabit aliis agricolis, qui reddant ei fructum temporibus suis. Dicit illis Jesus: Nunquam legistis in Scripturis: Lapidem quem reprobaverunt ædificantes, hicfactus est in caput anguli? A Domino factum est istud, et est mirabile in oculis nostris. Ideo dico vobis, quia auferetur a vobis regnum Dei, et dabitur genti facienti fructus ejus. Et qui ceciderit super lapidem istum, confringetur: super quem vero ceciderit, conteret eum. Et cum audissent principes sacerdotum et pharisæi parabolas ejus, cognoverunt quod de ipsis diceret. Et quærentes eum tenere, timuerunt turbas: quoniam sicut prophetam eum habebant.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Ch. xxi.
At that time: Jesus spoke to the multitude of the Jews, and to the chief priests this parable: There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he.sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: They will reverence my son. But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance. And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When, therefore, the lord of the vineyard shaU come, what will he do to those husbandmen? They say to him: He will bring those evil men to an evil end: and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen that shall render him the fruit in due season. Jesus saith to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes. Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them. And seeking to lay hands on him they feared the multitude; because they held him as a prophet.
Here we have more than the mere figures of the old Law, which show us our Redeemer in the far distant future; we have the great reality. Yet a little while, and the thrice holy Victim will have fallen beneath the blows of His persecutors. How awful and solemn are the words of Jesus, as His last hour approaches! His enemies feel the full weight of what He says; but, in their pride, they are determined to keep up their opposition to Him, who is the Wisdom of the Father. They have made up their minds not to acknowledge Him to be what they well know He is—the stone, on which he that falls shall be broken, and which shall grind to powder him on whom it shall fall. But what is the vineyard, of which our Lord here speaks? It is revealed truth; it is the rule of faith and morals; it is the universal expectation of the promised Redeemer; and, lastly, it is the family of the children of God, His inheritance, His Church. God had chosen the Synagogue as the depository of such a treasure; He willed that His vineyard should be carefully kept, that it should yield fruit under their keeping, and that they should always look upon it as His possession, and one that was most dear to Him. But, in its hard-heartedness and avarice, the Synagogue appropriated the Lord’s vineyard to itself. In vain did He, at various times, send His prophets to reclaim His rights; the faithless husbandmen put them to death. The Son of God, the Heir, comes in Person. Surely, they will receive Him with due respect, and pay Him the homage due to His divine character! But no; they have formed a plot against Him; they intend to cast Him forth out of the vineyard, and kill Him. Come, then, ye Gentiles, and avenge this God! Leave not a stone on a stone of the guilty city that has uttered this terrible curse: ‘May His Blood be upon us and upon our children!’[1] But you shall be more than the ministers of the divine justice; you yourselves are now the favoured people of God. The apostasy of these ungrateful Jews is the beginning of your salvation. You are to be keepers of the vineyard to the end of time; you are to feed on its fruits, for they now belong to you. From east and west, from north and south, come to the great Pasch, that is being prepared! Come to the font of salvation, O ye new people, who are gathered unto God from all nations under the sun! Your mother the Church will fill up from you, if you be faithful, the number of the elect; and when her work is done, her Spouse will return, as the dread Judge, to condemn those who would not know the time of their visitation.[2]
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Da, quæsumus, Domine, populo tuo salutem mentis et corporis: ut bonis operibus inhærendo, tuæ semper virtues mereatur protectione defendi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to thy people health both of soul and body, that by the continual practice of good works they may always be defended by thy powerful protection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us encourage within ourselves the spirit of humility and penance by the following hymn, which we take from the Greek liturgy. It was composed by St. Andrew of Crete.
Hymn
(Feria V. quintæ hebdomadæ)
Unde primum miseræ vitæ meæ actiones lamenter? quod, Christe, hodierni planctus initium faciam? enim vero, qui misericors sis, debitorum veniam concede.
Veni, misera anima, tua carne comite, omnium confitero Creatori, deincepsque antiqua abstine aliena a ratione affectione, ac Deo lacrymas pænitens exhibe.
Qui Adam protoplastum prævaricando sim æmulatus; Deo, ætemoque regno et voluptate, meis cognovi peccatis me nudatum.
Heu me, misera anima! ut quid primæ Evæ similis facta es? male quippe vidisti, direque vulnerata es; ac manum admovisti ligno, petulansque escam absonam gustasti.
Jure merito Adam, ut qui unum tuum mandatum, O Salvator, non custodivisset, Eden ilia ejectus est: at ego, qui continue vivifica eloquia tua spemam,quid sustinuero?
Tempus est pænitentiæ: ad te accedo, fictorem meum: grave a me tolle peccati jugum: mihique, ut misericors, tribue veniam delictorum.
Ne me, Salvator, abomineris, ne projicias a facie tua: grave a me tolle peccati jugum: mihique, ut misericors, tribue veniam delictorum.
Voluntaria mea debita præterque voluntatem, manifestaque et occulta, cognita omnia et incognita, tu Salvator, condona, velut Deus indulgens; propitius esto, ac me salvum facito.
I would mourn over the sins of my wretched life; but where shall I begin? O Jesus! how shall I commence the lamentation I fain would make this day? Do thou, my merciful God, forgive me my sins.
Come, my poor soul and thou, too, my body, come, and confess to the great Creator; and, henceforth, restrain your senseless passions, and offer to God the tears of repentance.
I have imitated my first parent in his sin; I acknowledge my nakedness, for I have lost my God, and the kingdom and the joys of eternity.
Alas, unhappy soul! wherefore hast thou made thyself like unto Eve! Oh that guilty look! Oh that cruel wound! Thou didst stretch forth thy hand to the tree; and, in thy frowardness, didst eat the forbidden fruit.
Adam was deservedly driven out of paradise, because he broke one of thy commandments. O my Saviour! I, then, who am for ever setting thy life-giving words at defiance, what punishment shall I not have?
Now is the time for repentance. I come to thee, O my Creator! Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy’s sake, pardon me my crimes.
Despise me not, my Saviour! Cast me not away from thy face. Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy’s sake, pardon me my crimes.
Do thou, my Saviour, and my merciful God, pardon mo my sins, deliberate or indeliberate, public or private, known or unknown. Have mercy on me, and save me!
[1] St. Matt. xxvii. 25.
[2] St. Luke xix. 44
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The Station is in the church of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, two celebrated martyrs of Rome under the persecution of Diocletian. Their names are inserted in the Canon of the Mass.
Collect
Da, quæsumus, Domine, nostris effectum jejuniis salutarem: ut castigatio camis assumpta, ad nostrarum vegetationem transeat animarum. Per Christum Dorainum nostrum. Amen.
Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, this saving effect of our fast, that the chastisement of the flesh, which we have undertaken, may become the improvement of our souls. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio libri Genesis.
Cap. xxvii.
In diebus illis: Dixit Rebecca filio suo Jacob: Audivi patrem tuum loquentem cum Esaü fratre tuo et dicentem ei: Affer mihi de venatione tua, et fac cibos ut comedam, et benedioam tibi coram Domino antequam moriar. Nunc ergo, fili mi, acquiesce consiliis meis: et pergens ad gregem, affer mihi duos hcedos optimos, ut faciam ex eis escas patri tuo, quibus libenter vescitur: quas cum intuleris, et comederit derit, benedicat tibi priusquam moriatur. Cui ille reepondit: Nosti quod Esaü frater meus homo pilosus sit, et ego lenis: si attrecta verit me pater meus, et senserit, timeo ne putet me sibi voluisse illudere, et inducam super me maledictionem pro benedictione. Ad quern mater: In me sit, inquit, ista maledictio, fill mi: tantum audi vocem meam, et pergens affer quæ dixi. Abiit, et attulit, deditque matri. Paravit illa cibos eicut velle noverat patrem illius. Et vestibus Esaü valde bonis, quas apud se habebat domi, induit eum: pelliculasque hædorum circumdedit manibus, et colli nuda protexit. Deditque pulmentum, et panes quos coxerat tradidit. Quibus illatis dixit: Pater mi! At ille respondit: Audio. Quis es tu, fili mi? Dixitque Jacob: Ego sum primogenitus tuus Esaü: feci sicut præcepisti mihi: surge, eede, et comede de venatione mea, ut benedicat mihi anima tua. Kursumque Isaac ad filium suum: Quomodo, inquit, tam cito invenire potuisti fili mi? Qui respondit: Voluntas Dei fuit, ut cito occurreret mihi quod volebam. Dixitque Isaac: Accede hue, ut tangam te, fili mi, et probem utrum tu sis filiue meus Esaü, an non. Accessit ille ad patrem, et palpato eo, dixit Isaac: Vox quidem, vox Jacob est: sed manus, manus sunt Esaü. Et non cognovit eum, quia pilosæ manus similitudinem majoris expresserant. Benedicens ergo illi, ait: Tu es filiua meufl Esaü? Respondit: Ego sum. At ille: Affer mihi, inquit, cibos de venatione tua, fill mi, ut benedicat tibi anima mea. Quos cum oblatos comedieset, obtulit ei etiam vinum. Quo hausto, dixit ad eum: Accede ad me, et da mihi osculum, fili mi. Accessit, et osculatus est eum. Statimque ut sensit vestimentorum illius fragrantiam, benedicens illi, ait: Ecco odor filii mei, sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus. Det tibi Deus de rore cœli, et de pinguedine terræ, abundantiam frumenti et vini. Et serviant tibi populi, et adorent te tribus: esto dominus fratrum tuorum, et incurventur ante te filii matris tuæ. Qui maledixerit tibi, sit ille maledictus: et qui benedixerit tibi, benedictionibus repleatur. Vix Isaac sermone m impleverat: et egresso Jacob foras, venit Esaü, coctoeque de venatione cibos intulit patri, dicens: Surge, pater mi, et comede de venatione filii tui, ut benedicat mihi anima tua. Dixitque illi Isaac: Quis enim es tu? Qui respondit: Ego sum filius tuus primogenitus Esaü. Expavit Isaac stupore vehementi, et ultra quam credi potest, admirans, ait: Quis igitur ille est, qui dudum captam venationem attulit mihi, et comedi ex omnibus priusquam tu venires? Benedixique ei, et erit benedictus. Auditie Esaü sermonibus patris, irrugiit clamore magno: et conetematus, ait: Benedio etiam et mihi, pater mi. Qui ait: Venit germanus tuus fraudulenter, et accepit benedictionem tuam. At ille subjunxit: Juste vocatum est nomen ejus Jacob: supplantavit enim me in altera vice: primogenita mea ante tulit, et nunc secundo surripuit benedictionem meam. Rursumque ad patrem: Numquid non reservasti, ait, et mihi benedictionem? Respondit Isaac: Dominum tuum ilium conetitui, et omnes fra tres ejus servituti illius subjugavi: frumento et vino stabilivi eum; et tibi post haec, fili mi, ultra quid faciam? Cui Esaü: Num unam, inquit, tan turn benedictionem habes, pater? Mihi quoque obsecro ut benedicas. Cumque ejulatu magno fleret, motus Isaac, dixit ad eum: In pinguedine terræ, et in rore caeli desuper erit benedictio tua.
Lesson from the Book of Genesis.
Ch. xxvii.
In those days: Rebecca said to her son Jacob: I heard thy father talking with Esau thy brother, and saying to him: Bring me of thy hunting, and make me meats that I may eat, and bless thee in the sight of the Lord before I die. Now, therefore, my son, follow my counsel: and go thy way to the flock, bring me two kids of the best, that I may make of them meat for thy father, such as he gladly eateth; which when thou hast brought in, and he hath eaten, he may bless thee before he die. And he answered her: Thou knowest that Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am smooth; if my father shall feel me, and perceive it, I fear lest he will think I would have mocked him, and I shall bring upon me a curse instead of a blessing. And his mother said to him: Upon me be this curse, my son; only hear thou my voice, and go, fetch me the things which I have said. He went, and brought, and gave them to his mother. She dressed meats such as she knew his father liked. And she put on him very good garments of Esau, which she had at home with her; and the little skins of the kids she put about his hands, and covered the bare of his neck. And she gave him the savoury meat, and delivered him bread that she had baked. Which when he had carried in, he said: My father? But he answered: I hear; who art thou, my son? And Jacob said: I am Esau thy first-born; I have done as thou didst command me; arise, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said to his son: How couldst thou find it so quickly, my son? He answered: It was the will of God, that what I sought came quickly in my way. And Isaac said: Come hither, that I may ioel thee, my sun. and may prove whether thou be my son Esau or not. He came near to his father, and when he had felt him, Isaac said: The voice, indeed, is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he knew him not, because his hairy hands made him like to the elder. Then blessing him, he said: Art thou my son Esau? He answered: I am. Then he said: Bring me the meats of thy hunting, my son, that my soul may bless thee. And when they were brought and he had eaten, he offered him wine also; which after he had drunk, he said to him: Come near me, and give me a kiss, my son. He came near, and kissed him. And immediately as he smelled the fragrant smell of his garments, blessing him, he said: Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed. God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, abundance of com and wine. And let peoples serve thee, and tribes worship thee; be thou lord of thy brethren, and let thy mother’s children bow down before thee. Cursed be he that curseth thee, and let him that blesseth thee be filled with blessings. Isaac had scarce ended his words when Jacob being now gone out abroad, Esau came, and brought in to his father meats made of what he had taken in hunting, saying: Arise, my father, and eat of thy son’s venison; that thy seul may bless me. And Isaac said to him: Why! who art thou? He answered: I am thy firstborn son Esau. Isaac was struck with fear, and astonished exceedingly, and wondering beyond what can be believed, said: Who is he then that even now brought me venison that he had taken and I ate of all before thou earnest? and I have blessed him and he shall be blessed. Esau having heard his father’s words, roared out with a great cry, and being in a consternation, said: Bless me also, my father. And he said: Thy brother came deceitfully and got thy blessing. But he said again: Rightly is his name called Jacob, for he hath supplanted me, lo! this second time; my first birth-right he took away before, and now this second time he hath stolen away my blessing. And again he said to his father: Hast thou not reserved me also a blessing? Isaac answered: I have appointed him thy lord, and have made all his brethren his servants: I have established him with corn and wine, and after this, what shall I do more for thee, my son? And Esau said to him: Hast thou only one blessing, father? I beseech thee, bless me also. And when he wept with a loud cry, Isaac being moved, said to him: In the fat of the earth and in the dew of heaven from above, shall thy blessing be.
The two sons of Isaac are another illustration of God’s judgments upon Israel, and His vocation of the Gentiles. The instruction contained in this passage from Genesis was intended for the catechumens. Here we have two brothers, Esau the elder, and Jacob the younger; Esau represents the Jewish people; he is his father’s heir, and, as such, he has a glorious future before him. Jacob, though twin-brother to Esau, is the second-born, and has no right to the special blessing which Esau claimed; he is the figure of the Gentiles. How, then, is it that Jacob receives the blessing and not Esau? The sacred volume tells us that Esau is a carnal-minded man. Rather than deny himself the momentary gratification of his appetite, he sacrifices the spiritual advantages which his father’s blessing is to bring him; he sells his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage. We know the mother’s plan for securing Jacob’s claim; and how the aged father is, unsuspectingly, the instrument in God’s hands, ratifying and blessing this substitution, of which he himself has no knowledge. Esau, having returned home, is made aware of the greatness of his loss; but it is too late, and he becomes an enemy to his brother. The same thing happens with the Jewish people; they are carnal-minded and lose their birthright, their pre-eminence over the Gentiles. They refuse to acknowledge a Messias who is poor and persecuted; their ambition is for earthly triumph and earthly greatness; and the only kingdom that Jesus holds out to His followers is a spiritual one. The Jews, then, reject this Messias; but the Gentiles receive Him, and they become the first-born, the favoured people. And, whereas the Jews repudiate this substitution (to which, however, they assented, when they said to Pilate: ‘We will not have this Man to reign over us’),[1] they are indignant at seeing the heavenly Father bestowing all His love and blessings on the Christian people. They that are children of Abraham according to the flesh are disinherited; and they that are the children of Abraham by faith alone are evidently the children of the promise; according to those words of the Lord, which He spoke to that great patriarch: ‘I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea-shore. ... In thy seed (that is, in Him who is to be born of thy race) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.’[2]
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam.
Cap. xv.
In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus pharisæis et scribis parabolam istam: Homo quidam habuit duos filios: et dixit adolescentior ex illis patri: Pater, da mihi portionem substantiae quæ me contingit. Et divisit illis substantiam. Et non post multos dies, congregatis omnibus, adolescentior filius peregre profectus est in regionem longinquam, et ibi dissipavit substantiam suam vivendo luxuriose. Et postquam omnia consummasset, facta est fames valida in regione ilia, et ipse coepit egere. Et abiit, et adhæsit uni civium regionis illius. Et misit ilium in villain suam ut pasceret porcos. Et cupiebat implere ventre m suum de siliquis quas porci manducabant: et nemo illi dabat. In se autem reversus, dixit: Quanti mercenarii in domo patrie mei abundant panibus: ego autem hicfame pereo! Surgam, et ibo ad patrem meum, et dicam ei: Pater, peccavi in cœlum et coram te; jam non sum dignus vocan filius tuus: fac me sicut unum de mercenariis tuis. Et surgens venit ad patrem suum. Cum autem adhue longe esset, vidit ilium pater ipsius, et misericordia motus est, et accurrens cecidit super collum ejus, et osculatus est eum. Dixitque ei filius: Pater, peccavi in ccelum, et coram te: jam non sum dignus vocari filius tuus. Dixit autem pater ad servos suos: Cito proferte stolam primam, et induite ilium, et date annulum in manum ejus, et calceamenta in pedes ejus: et * adducite vitulum saginatum, et occidite, et manducemus et epulemur: quia hicfilius meus mortuus erat, et revixit: perierat, et inventus est. Et coeperunt epulari. Erat autem filius ejus senior in agro: et cum veniret, et appropinquaret domui, audivit symphoniam, et chorum; et vocavit unum de servis, et interrogavit quid hæc essent. Isque dixit illi: Frater tuus venit, et occidit pater tuus vitulum saginatum, quia salvum ilium recepit. Indignatus est autem, et nolebat introire. Pater ergo illius egressus, cœpit rogare ilium. At file respondens, dixit patri suo: Ecce tot annis servio tibi, et numquam mandatum tuum præterivi, et numquam dedisti mihi hcedum, ut cum amicis meis epularer: sed postquam filius tuus hie, qui devoravit substantiam suam cum meretricibus, venit, oceidisti illi vitulum saginatum. At ipse dixit illi: Fili, tu semper mecum es, et omnia mea tua sunt: epulari autem et gaudere oportebat, quia frater tuus hic mortuus erat, et revixit: perierat et inventus est.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Ch. xv.
At that time: Jesus spoke to the scribes and pharisees this parable: A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance. And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country, and there wasted his substance, living riotously. And, after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country, and he began to be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him. And returning to .himself hesaid: How many hired servants in my father’s house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger! I will arise and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee; I am not now worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants. And rising up, he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion; and running to him, fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee; I am not now worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry; because this my son was dead, and is come to life again, was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing, and he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe. And he was angry, and would not go in. His father therefore coming out began to entreat him. And he answering said to his father: Behold for so many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends; but as soon as this thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is thine. But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is come to life again, he was lost, and is found.
The mystery brought before us in the Epistle is repeated in our Gospel. Again it is the history of two brothers; the elder is angry at seeing his father show mercy to the younger. This younger brother has gone abroad into a far country; he has quitted his father’s house, that he might be under no control, and indulge in every kind of disorder. But when a mighty famine came, and he was perishing with hunger, he remembered that he had a father; and, at once, he arose, and humbly besought his father to receive him, and give him the last place in that housey which, but for his own folly, might have been all his own. The father received the prodigal with the tenderest affection; not only did he pardon him, he restored him to all his family rights; nay, he would have a feast kept in honour of this happy return. The elder brother, hearing what the father had done, was indignant, and conceived the bitterest jealousy against his younger brother. Let the Jews be jealous, if they will; let them be indignant with their God for showing His mercy to any but themselves. The time has come when all the nations of the earth are to be called to the one fold. The Gentiles, notwithstanding all the misery into which their errors and their passions had led them, are to receive the preaching of the apostles. Greeks and Romans, Scythians and barbarians, are to come, humbly acknowledging the evil of their ways, and ask to share in the favours offered to Israel. Not only are they to be allowed to eat of the crumbs that fall from the table, which was all the poor woman of Chanaan dared to hope for; they are to be made sons and heirs of the Father, with all the attendant rights and privileges. Israel will be jealous, and will protest; but to no purpose. He will refuse to take part in the feast; it matters not, the feast is to be. This feast is the Pasch. The prodigals that have come, starved and naked, to the Father’s house, are our catechumens, on whom God is about to bestow the grace of adoption.
But there are also the public penitents, who are being prepared by the Church for reconciliation; they, too, are the frodigals, who come seeking mercy from their offended Father. This Gospel was intended for them as well as for the catechumens. But now that the Church has relaxed her severe discipline, she offers this parable to all those who are in the state of sin, and are preparing to make their peace with God. They know not, as yet, how good is the God from whom they have strayed by sin: let them read to-day’s Gospel, and see how mercy exalteth itself above judgment,[3] in that God, who so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son.[4] How far soever they may have gone astray, or how great soever may have been their ingratitude, let them take courage; a feast is being prepared in their Father’s house, to welcome them home again. The loving Father is waiting at the door to receive and embrace them; the first robe, the robe of innocence, is to be restored to them; the ring, which they alone wear that are of God’s family, is to be once more placed on their hand. There is a banquet being prepared for them, at which the angels, out of joy, will sing their glad songs. Let these poor sinners, then, cry out with a contrite heart: Father! I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee; I am not now worthy to be called Thy son: make me as one of Thy hired servants. This tender-hearted Father asks only this much of them: sincere sorrow for their sins, humble confession, and a firm resolution of being faithful for the time to come. Let them accept these easy terms, and He will receive them, once more, as His dearest children.
Humiliate capita vestra Deo. Familiam tuam, quæsumus, Domine, continua pietate custodi: ut quæin sola spe gratiæ cœlestis innititur, cœlesti etiam protectione muniatur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Protect, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy family, by thy continual goodness, that as it relieth on the hopes of thy heavenly grace, so it may bo defended by thy heavenly aid. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
This being Saturday, let us have recourse to Mary the Queen of mercy. Let us address ourselves to her in these devout words of a sequence, taken from the ancient Cluny missals. This is our request: that she would obtain for us the pardon of our sins.
Sequence
Ave novi luminis
Stella promens radium,
Quo nostræ propaginis
Deletur opprobrium.
Tu sola spes hominis,
Tu nostrum refugium,
In hora discriminis
Placa nobis Filium.
Florens Jesse virgula,
Vera veris primula,
Salutem initians.
Rosa semper vernula,
Tota sine macula,
Maculosos expians.
Uterus virgineus,
Fons hortorum, puteus
Aquarum viventium.
Imo thronus aureus,
In quo Rex æthereus
Coronavit Filium.
Domus aromatica,
Quam arte mirifica
Fecit summus Artifex.
In qua Christus unica
Sumpta camis tunica,
Consecratur Pontifex.
Fons distillans oleum,
Imo rorem melleum,
Per amoris fistulas.
Inde surgit balneum,
Purgans omne felleum,
Et peccati maculas.
Mater cujus viscera
Penetrarunt vulnera
Patientis Filii.
Lac profer et ubera;
Nos a pænis libera
Tremendi judicii.
Amen.
Hail, fair star!
that yieldest a ray of new light,
whereby is blotted out
the shame of our race.
O thou the singular hope of man!
O thou our refuge!
Appease thy Son,
at the hour of our judgment.
Thou art the flowery rod of Jesse:
thou art the true first spring-flower,
bringing us our Jesus.
O ever blooming rose
there is not a stain upon thee,
and thy Fruit taketh our stains away.
Thy virginal womb is the fount of the garden,
the source of him
that is the water of life.
Yea, thou art the golden throne,
whereon the King of heaven
crowned his Son.
The palace of sweet perfumes,
formed with exquisite skill
by the hand of the great Artificer;
Wherein Jesus,
having put on the garment of our flesh,
was consecrated High Priest.
Thou art the fount that givest forth oil,
yea, a dew sweet as honey;
for thou art all love.
Hence came to us the font
that washeth away
the bitterness and the stains of sin.
O Mother! whose heart
was pierced by the wounds
of thy suffering Son.
Show us a Mother’s care and love;
and when the dread judgment comes,
deliver us from punishment.
Amen.
[1] St. Luke xix. 14.
[2] Gen. xxii. 17, 18.
[3] St. James ii, 13.
[4] St. John iii. 16.