Passion Week
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
Hodie, si vocem Domini audieritis, nolite obdurare corda vestra.
To-day if you shall hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.
The holy Church begins her night Office of this Sunday with these impressive words of the royal prophet. Formerly, the faithful considered it their duty to assist at the night Office, at least on Sundays and feasts; they would have grieved to lose the grand teachings given by the liturgy. Such fervour has long since died out; the assiduity at the Offices of the Church, which was the joy of our Catholic forefathers, has now become a thing of the past; and even in countries which have not apostatized from the faith, the clergy have ceased to celebrate publicly Offices at which no one assisted. Excepting in cathedral churches and in monasteries, the grand harmonious system of the divine praise has been abandoned, and the marvellous power of the liturgy has no longer its full influence upon the faithful.
This is our reason for drawing the attention of our readers to certain beauties of the Divine Office, which would otherwise be totally ignored. Thus, what can be more impressive than this solemn Invitatory of to-day’s Matins, which the Church takes from one of the psalms, and which she repeats on every feria between this and Maundy Thursday? She says: To-day, if ye shall hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts! The sweet voice of your suffering Jesus now speaks to you, poor sinners! be not your own enemies by indifference and hardness of heart. The Son of God is about to give you the last and greatest proof of the love that brought Him down from heaven; His death is nigh at hand: men are preparing the wood for the immolation of the new Isaac: enter into yourselves, and let not your hearts, after being touched with grace, return to their former obduracy; for nothing could be more dangerous. The great anniversaries we are to celebrate have a renovating power for those souls that faithfully correspond with the grace which is offered them; but they increase insensibility in those who let them pass without working their conversion. To-day, therefore, if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts!
During the preceding four weeks, we have noticed how the malice of Jesus' enemies has been gradually increasing. His very presence irritates them; and it is evident that any little circumstance will suffice to bring the deep and long-nurtured hatred to a head. The kind and gentle manners of Jesus are drawing to Him all hearts that are simple and upright; at the same time, the humble life He leads, and the stem purity of His doctrines, are perpetual sources of vexation and anger, both to the proud Jew that looks forward to the Messias being a mighty conqueror, and to the pharisee, who corrupts the Law of God, that he may make it the instrument of his own base passions. Still, Jesus goes on working miracles; His discourses are more than ever energetic; His prophecies foretell the fall of Jerusalem, and such a destruction of its famous temple, that not a stone is to be left on a stone. The doctors of the Law should, at least, reflect upon what they hear; they should examine these wonderful works, which render such strong testimony in favour of the Son of David; and they should consult those divine prophecies which, up to the present time, have been so literally fulfilled in His person. Alas! they themselves are about to carry them out to the very last iota. There is not a single outrage or suffering foretold by David and Isaias, as having to be put upon the Messias, which these blind men are not scheming to verify.
In them, therefore, was fulfilled that terrible saying: ‘He that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.’[1] The Synagogue is nigh to a curse. Obstinate in her error, she refuses to see or to hear; she has deliberately perverted her judgment: she has extinguished within herself the light of the holy Spirit; she will go deeper and deeper into evil, and at length fall into the abyss. This same lamentable conduct is but too often witnessed nowadays in those sinners, who, by habitual resistance to the light, end by finding their happiness in sin. Neither should it surprise us, that we find in people of our own generation a resemblance to the murderers of our Jesus: the history of His Passion will reveal to us many sad secrets of the human heart and its perverse inclinations; for what happened in Jerusalem, happens also in every sinner’s heart. His heart, according to the saying of St. Paul, is a Calvary, where Jesus is crucified. There is the same ingratitude, the same blindness, the same wild madness, with this difference: that the sinner who is enlightened by faith, knows Him whom he crucifies; whereas the Jews, as the same apostle tells us, knew not the Lord of glory.[2] Whilst, therefore, we listen to the Gospel, which relates the history of the Passion, let us turn the indignation which we feel for the Jews against ourselves and our own sins; let us weep over the sufferings of our Victim, for our sins caused Him to suffer and die.
Everything around us urges us to mourn. The images of the saints, the very crucifix on our altar, are veiled from our sight. The Church is oppressed with grief. During the first four weeks of Lent, she compassionated her Jesus fasting in the desert; His coming sufferings and crucifixion and death are what now fill her with anguish. We read in to-day’s Gospel, that the Jews threaten to stone the Son of God as a blasphemer: but His hour is not yet come. He is obliged to flee and hide Himself. It is to express this deep humiliation, that the Church veils the cross. A God hiding Himself, that He may evade the anger of men—what a mystery! Is it weakness? Is it, that He fears death? No; we shall soon see Him going out to meet His enemies: but at present He hides Himself from them, because all that had been prophesied regarding Him has not been fulfilled. Besides, His death is not to be by stoning: He is to die upon a cross, the tree of malediction, which, from that time forward, is to be the tree of life. Let us humble ourselves, as we see the Creator of heaven and earth thus obliged to hide Himself from men, who are bent on His destruction! Let us go back, in thought, to the sad day of the first sin, when Adam and Eve hid themselves because a guilty conscience told them they were naked. Jesus has come to assure us of our being pardoned, and lo! He hides Himself, not because He is naked—He that is to the saints the garb of holiness and immortality—but because He made Himself weak, that He might make us strong. Our first parents sought to hide themselves from the sight of God; Jesus hides Himself from the eye of men. But it will not be thus for ever. The day will come when sinners, from whose anger He now flees, will pray to the mountains to fall on them and shield them from His gaze; hut their prayer will not be granted, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with much power and majesty.[3]
This Sunday is called Passion Sunday, because the Church begins, on this day, to make the sufferings of our Redeemer her chief thought. It is called also, Judica, from the first word of the Introit of the Mass; and again Neomania, that is, the Sunday of the new (or the Easter) moon, because it always falls after the new moon which regulates the feast of Easter.
In the Greek Church, this Sunday goes under the simple name of the fifth Sunday of the holy fasts.
MASS
At Rome, the Station is in the basilica of St. Peter. The importance of this Sunday, which never gives way to any feast, no matter what its solemnity may be, required that the place for the assembly of the faithful should be in one of the chief sanctuaries of the holy city.
The Introit is taken from the first verses of Psalm xlii. The Messias appeals to God’s tribunal, and protests against the sentence about to be pronounced against Him by men. He likewise expresses His confidence in His Father’s help, who, after His sufferings and death, will lead Him in triumph into the holy mount.
Introit
Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta: ab homine iniquo et doloso eripe me: quia tu es Deus meus, et fortitudo mea.
Ps. Emitte lucem tuam et veritatem tuam: ipsa me deduxerunt et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum, et in tabernacula tua. Judica me.
Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy; deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man: for thou art my God and my strength.
Ps. Send forth thy light and thy truth; for they have conducted me, and brought me to thy holy mount, and into thy tabernacles. Judge me, &c.
The Gloria Patri is not said during Passiontide and Holy Week (unless a saint’s feast be kept), but the Introit is repeated immediately after the Psalm.
In the Collect, the Church prays that there may be produced in her children that total reformation, which the holy season of Lent is intended to produce. This reformation is such, that it will not only subject the body to the spirit, but preserve also the spirit itself from those delusions and passions, to which it has been, hitherto, more or less a slave.
Collect
Quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, familiam tuam propitius respice: ut, te largiente, regatur in corpore, et, te servante, custodiatur in mente. Per Dominum.
Mercifully look down on thy people, we beseech thee O almighty God, that by thy bounty and protection, they may be governed and guarded both in body and soul. Through, &c.
Then is added one of the following prayers:
Against the Persecutors of the Church
Ecclesiæ tuæ, quæsumus, Domine, preces placatus admitte: ut destructis adversitatibus et erroribus universis, secura tibi serviat libertate. Per Dominum.
Mercifully hear, we beseech thee, O Lord, the prayers of thy Church: that all oppositions and errors being removed, she may serve thee with a secure liberty. Through, &c.
For the Pope
Deus, omnium fidelium Pastor et Rector, famulum tuum N., quem Pastorem Ecclesiæ tuæ præesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quæsumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus præest, proficere; ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Dominum.
O God, the Pastor and Ruler of all the faithful, look down, in thy mercy, on thy servant N„ whom thou hast appointed Pastor over thy Church; and grant we beseech thee, that both by word and example, he may edify all those that are under his charge: and, with the flock entrusted to him, arrive at length at eternal happiness. Through, &c.
Epistle
Lectio Epistolæ beati Pauli Apostoli ad Hebræos.
Cap. IX.
Fratres: Christus assistens Pontifex futurorum bonorum, per amplius et perfectius tabernaculum non manufactum, id est, non hujus creationis: neque per sanguinem hircorum aut vitulorum, sed per proprium Sanguinem introivit semel in Sancta, æterna redemptione inventa. Si enim sanguis hircorum et taurofum, et cinis vitulæ aspersus inquinatos sanctificat ad emundationem carnis: quanto magis Sanguis Christi, qui per Spiritum sanctum semetipsum obtulit immaculatum Deo, emundabit conscientiam nostram ab operibus mortuis, ad serviendum Deo viventi? Et ideo novi Testamenti mediator est: ut morte intercedente, in redemptionem earum prævaricationum, quæ erant sub priori Testamento, repromissionem accipiant, qui vocati sunt, æternæ hæreditatis: in Christo Jesu Domino nostro
Lesson of the Epistle of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews.
Ch. IX.
Brethren: Christ being come, an High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but by his own Blood, entered once into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For, if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh; how much more shall the Blood of Christ (who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God), cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And therefore, he is the mediator of the new Testament: that by means of his death, for the redemption of those transgressions which were under the former Testament, they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is by blood alone that man is to be redeemed. He has offended God. This God cannot be appeased by anything short of the extermination of His rebellious creature, who, by shedding his blood, will give an earnest of his repentance and his entire submission to the Creator, against whom he dared to rebel. Otherwise, the justice of God must be satisfied by the sinner’s suffering eternal punishment. This truth was understood by all the people of the ancient world, and all confessed it by shedding the blood of victims, as in the sacrifices of Abel at the very commencement of the world, in the hecatombs of Greece, in the countless immolations whereby Solomon dedicated the temple. And yet God thus speaks to His people: ‘Hear, O My people, and I will speak: O Israel, and I will testify to thee: I am God thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, and thy burnt-offerings are always in my sight. I will not take calves out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy flocks. I need them not: for all the beasts of the woods are Mine. If I should be hungry I would not tell thee; for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats?’[4] Thus, God commands the blood of victims to be offered to Him, and, at the same time, declares that neither it nor they are precious in His sight. Is this a contradiction? No: God would hereby have man understand that it is only by blood that he can be redeemed, but that the blood of brute animals cannot effect this redemption. Can the blood of man himself bring him his own redemption, and appease God’s justice? No, not even man’s blood, for it is defiled; and even were it undefiled, it is powerless to compensate for the outrage done to God by sin. For this there was needed the Blood of a God; such was the Blood of Jesus, and He has come that He may shed it for our redemption.
In Him is fulfilled the most sacred of the figures of the old Law. Once each year, the high-priest entered into the Holy of holies, there to make intercession for the people. He went within the veil, even to the Ark of the Covenant; but he was not allowed to enjoy this great privilege, unless he entered the holy place carrying in his hands the blood of a newlyoffered victim. The Son of God, the true HighPriest, is now about to enter heaven, and we are to follow Him thither; but unto this, He must have an offering of blood, and that Blood can be none other than His own. We are going to assist at this His compliance with the divine ordinance. Let us open our hearts, that this precious Blood may, as the apostle says in to-day’s Epistle, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
The Gradual is taken from the Psalms. Our Saviour here prays to be delivered from His enemies, and protected from the rage of them that have risen up against Him; yet is He ready to do the will of His Father, by whom He will be avenged.
In the Tract, which is also taken from the Psalms, the Messias, under the name of Israel, complains of the persecution He has met with from the Jews, even from His youth. They are now about to scourge Him in a most cruel manner. But He also foretells the punishment their deicide is to bring upon them.
Gradual
Eripe me, Domine, de inimicis meis: doce me facere voluntatem tuam.
℣. Liberator meus, Domine, de gentibus iracundis: ab insurgentibus in me exaltabis me: a viro iniquo eripies me.
Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; teach me to do thy will.
℣. Thou, O Lord, art my deliverer from the enraged Gentiles: thou wilt put me out of the reach of those that assault me; and thou wilt rescue me from the unrighteous man.
Tract
Sæpe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea.
℣. Dicat nunc Israel; Sæpe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea.
℣. Etenim non potuerunt mihi: supra dorsum meum fabricaverunt peccatores.
℣. Prolongaverunt iniquitates suas: Dominus justus concidet cervices peccatorum.
Many a time have they fought against me from my youth.
℣. Let Israel now say: They have often attacked me from my youth.
℣. But they could not prevail over me: the wicked have wrought upon my back.
℣. They have lengthened their iniquity: the Lord who is just, will cut the necks of sinners.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.
Cap. viii.
In illo tempore: Dicebat Jesus turbis Judæorum: Quis ex vobis arguet me de peccato? Si veritatem dico vobis, quare non creditis mihi? Qui ex Deo est, verba Dei audit. Propterea vos non auditis, quia ex Deo non estis. Responderunt ergo Judæi, et dixerunt ei: Nonne bene dicimus nos quia Samaritanus es tu, et dæmonium habes? Respondit Jesus: Ego dæmonium non habeo: sed honorifico Patrem meum, et vos inhonorastis me. Ego autem non quæro gloriam meam: est qui quærat et judicet. Amen, amen dico vobis: Si quis sermonem meum servavaverit, mortem non videbit in æternum. Dixerunt ergo Judæi: Nunc cognovimus quia dæmonium habes. Abraham mortuus est, et prophetæ: et tu dicis: Si quis sermonem meum servaverit, non gustabit mortem in æternum. Numquid tu major es patre nostro Abraham, qui mortuus est? et prophetæ mortui sunt. Quem teipsum facis? Respondit Jesus: Si ego glorifico meipsum, gloria mea nihil est: est Pater meus, qui glorificat me, quem vos dicitis quia Deus vester est, et non cognovistis eum; ego autem novi eum: et si dixero quia non scio eum, ero similis vobis mendax. Sed scio eum, et sermonem ejus servo. Abraham pater vester exsultavit ut videret diem meum: vidit, et gavisus est. Dixerunt ergo Judæi ad eum: Quinquaginta armos nondum habes, et Abraham vidisti? Dixit eis Jesus: Amen, amen, dico vobis, antequam Abraham fieret, ego sum. Tulerunt ergo lapides ut jacerent in eum: Jesus autem abscondit se, et exivit de templo.
Sequel of the holy Gospel, according to John.
Ch. viii.
At that time: Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews: Which of you shall convince me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God. The Jews, therefore, answered and said to him; Do not we say well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered: I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and you have dishonoured me. But I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Amen, amen, I say to you: If any man keep my word, he shall not see death for ever. The Jews therefore said: Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets: and thou sayest: If any man keep my word, he shall not taste death for ever. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom dost thou make thyself? Jesus answered: If I glorify myself my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifieth me, of whom you say that he is your God; and you have not known him, but I know him. And if I shall say that I know him not, I shall be like to you, a liar. But I do know him, and do keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.
The fury of the Jews is evidently at its height, and Jesus is obliged to hide Himself from them. But He is to fall into their hands before many days are over; then will they triumph and put Him to death. They triumph, and Jesus is their victim: but how different is to be His lot from theirs! In obedience to the decrees of His heavenly Father, and out of love for men, He will deliver Himself into the hands of His enemies, and they will put Him to death; but He will rise victorious from the tomb, He will ascend into heaven, He will be throned on the right hand of His Father. His enemies, on the contrary, after having vented all their rage, will live on without remorse, until the terrible day come for their chastisement. That day is not far off, for observe the severity wherewith our Lord speaks to them: 'You hear not the words of God, because you are not of God' Yet there was a time when they were of God, for the Lord gives His grace to all men; but they have rendered this grace useless; they are now in darkness, and the light they have rejected will not return.
You say that My Father is your God, and you have not known Him; but I know Him. Their obstinacy in refusing to acknowledge Jesus as the Messias, has led these men to ignore that very God, whom they boast of honouring; for if they knew the Father, they would not reject His Son. Moses, and the Psalms, and the Prophets, are all a dead letter to them; these sacred Books are soon to pass into the hands of the Gentiles, who will both read and understand them. If, continues Jesus, I should say that I know Him not, I should be like to you, a liar. This strong language is that of the angry Judge who is to come down, at the last day, to destroy sinners. Jerusalem has not known the time of her visitation: the Son of God has visited her, He is with her, and she dares to say to Him: Thou hast a devil! She says to the eternal Word, who proves Himself to be God by the most astonishing miracles, that Abraham and the prophets are greater than He! Strange blindness, that comes from pride and hardness of heart! The feast of the Pasch is at hand; these men are going to eat, and with much parade of religion, the flesh of the figurative lamb; they know full well that this lamb is a symbol, or a figure, which is to have its fulfilment. The true Lamb is to be sacrificed by their hands, and they will not know Him. He will shed His Blood for them, and it will not save them. How this reminds us of those sinners, for whom this Easter promises to be as fruitless as those of the past years! Let us redouble our prayers for them, and beseech our Lord to soften their hearts, lest trampling the Blood of Jesus under their feet, they should have it to cry vengeance against them before the throne of the heavenly Father.
At the Offertory, confiding in the merits of the Blood that has redeemed us, let us, in the words of the Psalm, give praise to God, and proclaim Him to be the author of that new life, of which the sacrifice of the Lamb is the never-failing source.
Offertory
Confitebor tibi, Domine, in toto corde meo: retribue servo tuo; vivam, et custodiam sermones tuos: vivifica me secundum verbum tuum, Domine.
I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: reward thy servant: I shall live, and keep thy commandments: save me according to thy word, O Lord.
The Sacrifice of the spotless Lamb has produced two effects upon the sinner: it has broken his fetters, and has made him the object of God’s love. The Church prays, in the Secret, that the Sacrifice which she is about to offer, and which is one with that of the cross, may work the same results in us.
Secrets
Hæc munera, quæsumus, Domine, et vincula nostræ pravitatis absolvant, et tuæ nobis misericordiæ dona concilient. Per Dominum.
May these offerings, O Lord, both loosen the bonds of our wickedness, and obtain for us the gifts of thy mercy. Through, &c.
Against the Persecutors of the Church
Protege nos, Domine, tuis mysteriis servientes: ut divinis rebus inhærentes, et corpore tibi famulemur et mente. Per Dominum.
Protect us, O Lord, while we assist at thy sacred mysteries: that being employed in acts of religion, we may serve thee both in body and mind. Through &c.
For The Pope
Oblatis, quæsumus, Domine, placare muneribus: et famulum tuum N. quem Pastorem Ecclesiæ tuæ præesse voluisti, assidua protectione guberna. Per Dominum.
Be appeased, O Lord, with the offering we have made: and cease not to protect thy servant N., whom thou hast been pleased to appoint Pastor over thy Church. Through, &c.
The Communion-antiphon is formed out of the very words spoken by Jesus, when instituting the august Sacrifice which has just been celebrated, and of which the priest and people have partaken, in memory of the Passion, for it renews both the remembrance and the merits of the Passion.
Communion
Hoc corpus, quod pro vobis tradetur: hic calix novi testamenti est in meo sanguine, dicit Dominus: hoc facite, quotiesque sumitis, in meam commemorationem.
This is the body which shall be delivered up for you; this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, saith the Lord. As often as you roceive them, do it in remembrance of me.
In the Postcommunion, the Church prays to God, that He would maintain in the faithful the fruits of the visit He has so graciously paid them; for, by their participation in the sacred mysteries, He has entered into them.
Postcommunions
Adesto nobis, Domine Deus noster: et, quos tuis mysteriis recreasti, perpetuis defende subsidiis. Per Dominum.
Help us, O Lord our God, and for ever protect those whom thou hast refreshed with thy sacred mysteries. Through, &c.
Against the Persecutors of the Church
Quæsumus, Domine Deus noster: ut quos divina tribuis participatione gaudere, humanis non sinas subjacere periculis. Per Dominum.
We beseech thee, O Lord our God, not to leave exposed to the dangers of human life, those whom thou hast permitted to partake of these divine mysteries. Through, &c.
For the Pope
Hæc nos quæsumus, Domini, divini Sacramenti perceptio protegat: et famulum tuum N. quem Pastorem Ecclesiæ tuæ præesse voluisti, una cum commisso sibi grege salvet semper et muniat. Per Dominum.
May the participation of this divine Sacrament protect us, we beseech thee, O Lord, and always procure safety and defence to thy servant N., whom thou hast appointed Pastor over the Church, together with the flock committed to his charge. Through &c.
VESPERS
The psalms and antiphons are given on page 81.
Capitulum
(Heb. ix)
Fratres: Christus assiitene Pontifex futurorum bonorum, per amplius et perfectius tabernaculum non manufactum, id est, non hujus creationis, neque per sanguinem hircorum, aut vitulorum, sed per proprium sanguinem, introivit semel in Sancta, æterna redemptione inventa.
Brethren: Christ being come an High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but by his own Blood, entered once into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption.
For the hymn and versicle, see page 89.
Antiphon of the Magnificat
Abraham pater vester exsultavit ut videret diem meum: vidit et gavisus est.
Oremus
Quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, familiam tuam propitius respice: ut, te largiente, regatur in corpore, et, te servante, custodiatur in mente. Per Dominum.
Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad.
Let us Pray
Mercifully look down on thy people, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that by thy bounty and protection, they may be governed and guarded both in body and soul. Through, &c.
The following, appropriate prayer is from the Mozarabic breviary.
Capitulum
Passionis tuæ festum, Christe Dei Filius, devotis cordium officiis, recurs temporis inchoantes, quo pro nobis et linguae fuisti persequentium passus, et tradentium te vulneribus crucifixus; rogamus atque exposcimus ne te elonges a nobis: ut quia proximante tribulatione, non est qui adjuvet; tu solus Passionis tuæ nos subleves ope: ne tradas ergo nos inimicis nostris in malum, sed excipe servos tuos in bonum: ut nos calumniantes superbi, inimici scilicet animarum nostrarum, virtutis tuæ potentia propellantur; tu es enim divina lucerna per humanitatem super candelabrum crucis imposita; ideo te rogamus, ut nos accendas, ne veniamus in pænam. Quos ergo perspicis initiatum Passionis tuæ festum devotis cordibus excepisse, facito eos Passioni tuæ communicare: ut tenebrarum nostrarum errore discusso, lucis tuæ muniamur præsidio.
The course of the year has brought us to the time for celebrating, with devout hearts and offices, the feast of thy Passion, O Jesus, Son of God! wherein, for our sake, thou didst suffer the calumnies of thine enemies, and wast crucified by the wounds of them that betrayed thee. We pray and beseech thee, that thou depart not from us; and whereas tribulation is nigh at hand, and there is none to help us, do thou, by the help of thy Passion, become our sole protector. Deliver us not, therefore, into the hands of our enemies unto evil, but receive us, as thy servants, unto good; that the haughty ones who calumniate us, namely the enemies of our souls, may be repelled by the might of thy power. Thou, by the human nature thou hast assumed, art the lamp set on the stand of the cross: we beseech thee, therefore, that thou enkindle us by thy flame, lest we become a prey to punishment. Behold us now entering, with devout hearts, upon the feast of thy Passion; oh! grant that we may partake of the merits of thy Passion: that thus, being delivered from the error of our darkness, we may be fortified by the help of thy light.
That we may the better honour the holy cross, we give, for each day of this week, an appropriate hymn from one or other of the various ancient liturgies. The one we have selected for to-day is the composition of St. Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers.
Hymn
Crux benedicta nitet, Dominus qua came pependit.
Atque cruore suo vulnera nostra lavat.
Mitis amore pio pro nobis victima factus,
Traxit ab ore lupi qua sacer Agnus oves.
Transfixis palmis ubi mundum a clade redemit,
Atque suo clausit funere mortis iter.
Hic manus illa fuit clavis confixa cruentis.
Quæ eripuit Paulum crimine, morte Petrum.
Fertilitate potens, o dulce et nobile lignum,
Quando tuis ramis tam nova poma geris.
Cujus odore novo defuncta cadavera surgunt,
Et redeunt vitæ qui caruere die.
Nullum uret æstus sub frondibus arboris hujus:
Luna nec in noctem, sol neque meridie.
Tu plantata micas secus est ubi cursus aquarum:
Spargis et ornatas flore recente comas.
Appensa est vitis inter tua brachia, de qua
Dulcia sanguineo vina rubore fluunt.
Brightly shineth the blessed cross, whereon hung the Body of our Lord, when, with his Blood, he washed our wounds.
Become, out of tender love for us, a meek Victim, this divine Lamb did by the cross rescue us his sheep from the jaws of the wolf.
’Twas there, with his hands nailed to the wood, that he redeemed the world from ruin, and by his own death, closed the way of death.
Here was fastened with cruel nails that hand which delivered Paul from sin, and Peter from death.
O sweet and noble tree! how vigorous in thy growth, when, on thy branches, hang fruits so rare as these!
Thy fresh fragrance gives resurrection to many that lay in the tomb, and restores the dead to life.
He that shelters beneath thy shade, shall not be scorched either by the moon at night or by the midday sun.
Planted near the running waters, thou art lovely in thy verdure, and blossoms ever fresh blow on each fair branch.
Between thine arms hangs the pendant Vine, whence wine most sweet flows in a ruddy stream,
[1] St. Matt. xii. 32.
[2] 1 Cor. ii. 8.
[3] St. Matt. xxiv. 30.
[4] Ps. xlix. 7-13.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The Station, at Rome, is in the church of Saint Chrysogonus, one of the most celebrated martyrs of the Church of Rome. His name is inserted in the Canon of the Mass.
Collect
Sanctifica, quæsumus, Domine, nostra jejunia: et cunctarum nobis indulgentiam propitius largire culparum. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Sanctify, O Lord, we beseech thee, our fasts, and mercifully grant us the pardon of all-our sins. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio Jonæ Prophetæ
Cap. iii.
In diebus illis: Factum est verbum Domini ad Jonam prophetam secundo, dicens: Surge, et vade in Nineven civitatem magnam: et prædica in ea prædicationem quam ego loquor ad te. Et surrexit Jonas, et abiit in Niniven juxta verbum Domini. Et Ninive erat civitæ magna itinere trium dierum. Et cœpit Jonas introire in civitatem itinere diei unius: et clamavit, et dixit: adhuc quadraginta dies et Ninive subvertetur. Et crediderunt viri Ninivitæ in Deum: et prædicaverunt jejunium, et vestiti sunt saccis a majore usque ad minorem. Et pervenit verbum ad regem Ninive: et surrexit de solio suo, et abjecit vestimentum suum a se, et indutus est sacco, et sedit in cinere. Et clamavit, et dixit in Ninive ex ore regis, et principum ejus, dicens: Homines, et jumenta, et boves, et pecora non gustent quidquam; nec pascantur, et aquam non bibant. Et operiantur saccis homines, et jumenta, et clament ad Dominum in fortitudine; et converbatur vir a via sua mala, et ab iniquitate, quæ est in manibus eorum. Quis scit si convertatur et ignoscat Deus: et revertatur a furore iræ suæ, et non peribimus? Et vidit Deus opera eorum, quia conversi sunt de via sua mala: et misertus est populo suo Dominus Deus noster.
Lesson from Jonas the Prophet.
Ch. iii.
In those days: the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: Arise and go to Ninive, the great city: and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee. And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord. Now Ninive was a great city of three days’ journey. And Jonas began to enter into the city one day’s journey: and he cried and said: Yet forty days and Ninive shall be destroyed. And the men of Ninive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Ninive: and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive, from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste anything: let them not feed nor drink water. And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and forgive: and will turn away from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish? And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and the Lord our God had mercy on his people.
The Church’s intention in this day’s lesson is to encourage us to earnestness and perseverance in our penance. Here we have an idolatrous city, a haughty and debauched capital, whose crimes have merited the anger of heaven. God threatens it with His vengeance: yet forty days, and Ninive and its inhabitants shall he destroyed. How came it, that the threat was not carried into effect? What was it that caused Ninive to be spared? Its people returned to the God they had left; they sued for mercy; they humbled themselves, and fasted; and the Church concludes the prophet’s account by these touching words of her own: 'And the Lord our God had mercy on His people.' They are Gentiles, but they became His people, because they did penance at the preaching of the prophet. God had made a covenant with one only nation, the Jews; but He rejected not the Gentiles as often as they renounced their false gods, confessed His holy name and desired to serve Him. We are here taught the efficacy of corporal mortification; when united with spiritual penance, that is, with the repentance of the heart, it has power to appease God’s anger. How highly, then, should we prize the holy exercises of penance, put upon us by the Church during this holy season! Let us also learn to dread that false spirituality, which tells us that exterior mortification is of little value: such doctrine is the result of rationalism and cowardice.
This passage from the prophet Jonas is also intended for the catechumens, whose Baptism is so close at hand. It teaches them to have confidence in this merciful God of the Christians, whose threats are so terrible, but who, notwithstanding, turns from His threats to forgive the repentant sinner. These catechumens, who had hitherto lived in the Ninive of paganism, were here taught that God, even before sending His Son into the world, invited all men to become His people. Seeing the immense obstacles their Gentile ancestors had to surmount in order to receive and persevere in the grace offered them, they would bless God their Saviour for having, by His Incarnation, His Sacrifice, His Sacraments, and His Church, facilitated salvation for us who live under the new Testament. True, He was the source of salvation to all preceding generations: but with what incomparable richness is He the source of ours! The public penitents, too, had their instruction in this Epistle. What an encouragement for them to hope for pardon! God has shown pardon to Ninive, sinful as it was, and sentenced to destruction: He would, therefore, accept their repentance and penance, He would stay His justice, and show them mercy and pardon.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.
Cap. vii.
In illo tempore: Miserunt principes et pharisæi ministros, ut apprehenderent Jesum. Dixit ergo eis Jesus: Adhuc modicum tempus vobiscum sum: et vado ad eum qui me misit. Quæretis me. et non invenietis: et ubi ego sum vos non potestis venire. Dixerunt ergo Judæi ad semetipsos: Quo hic iturus est, quia non inveniemus eum? Numquid in dispersionem Gentium iturus est, et docturus Gentes? Quis est hic sermo quem dixit: Quæretis me, et non invenietis: et ubi sum ego, vos non potestis venire? In novissimo autem die magno festivitatis stabat Jesus, et clamabat dicens: Si quis sitit, veniat ad me, et bibat. Qui credit in me, sicut dicit Scriptura, flumina de ventre ejus fluent aquæ vivæ. Hoc autem dixit de Spiritu, quem accepturi erant credentes in eum.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.
Ch. vii.
At that time: The rulers and pharisees sent ministers to apprehend Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them: Yet a little while I am with you: and then I go to him that sent me. You shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither you cannot come. The Jews therefore said among themselves: Whither will he go that we shall not find him? Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What is this saying that he hath said: You shall seek me and shall not find me; and where I am, you cannot come? And on the last and great day of the festival, Jesus stood and cried, saying: If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He that believeth in me, as the Scripture saith, ‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in him.
The enemies of Jesus sought to stone Him to death, as we were told in yesterday’s Gospel; to-day they are bent on making Him a prisoner, and send soldiers to seize Him. This time Jesus does not hide Himself; but how awful are the words He speaks: I go to Him that sent Me: you shall seek Me, and shall not find Me! The sinner, then, who has long abused the grace of God, may have his ingratitude and contempt punished in this just, but terrific way—that he shall not be able to find the Jesus he has despised: he shall seek, and shall not find. Antiochus, when humbled under the hand of God, prayed, yet obtained not mercy.[1]After the death and resurrection of Jesus, whilst the Church was casting her roots in the world, the Jews, who had crucified the just One, were seeking the Messias in each of the many impostors, who were then rising up in Judea, and fomenting rebellions, which led to the destruction of Jerusalem. Surrounded on all sides by the Roman legions, with their temple and palaces a prey to flames, they sent up their cries to heaven, and besought the God of their fathers to send, as He had promised, the Deliverer! It never occurred to them that this Deliverer had shown Himself to their fathers, to many even of themselves; that they had put Him to death, and that the apostles had already carried His name to the ends of the earth. They went on looking for Him, even to the very day when the deicide city fell, burying beneath its ruins them that the sword had spared. Had they been asked what it was they were awaiting, they would have replied that they were expecting their Messias! He had come, and gone. You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me! Let those, too, think of these terrible words of Jesus, who intend to neglect the graces offered to them during this Easter. Let us pray, let us make intercession for them, lest they fall into that awful threat, of a repentance that seeks mercy when it is too late to find aught save an inexorable justice.
But what consoling thoughts are suggested by the concluding words of our Gospel! Faithful souls, and you that have repented! listen to what your Jesus says, for it is to you that He speaks: If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. Remember the prayer of the Samaritan woman: Give me O Lord, to drink of this water! This water is divine grace: come and drink your fill at the fountains of your Saviour, as the prophet Isaias bids you.[2] This water gives purity to the souls that are defiled, strength to them that are weak, and love to them that have no fervour. Nay, our Saviour assures us that he who believes in Him shall himself become as a fountain of living water, for the Holy Ghost will come upon him, and he shall pour out upon others of the fulness that he himself has received. With what joy must the catechumen have listened to these words, which promised him that his thirst should soon be quenched at the holy font! Jesus has made Himself everything to the world He has come to save: Light to guide us, Bread to nourish us, a Vine to gladden our hearts with its fruit, and, lastly, a Fountain of living water to quench our thirst.
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Da, quæsumus, Domine, populo tuo salutem mentis et corporis: ut bonis operibus inhærendo, tua semper mereatur protectione defendi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, to thy people, health both of body and mind, that being constant in the practice of good works, they may always be safe under thy protection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
This being the day on which the Church offers to our meditations the history of the prophet Jonas preaching to Ninive, we subjoin a new fragment from the hymn of Prudentius on fasting. It is the passage where he relates the life of this prophet, and the repentance of the wicked city.
Hymn
Referre prisci stemma nunc jejunii
Libet, fideli proditum volumine,
Ut diruendæ civitatis incolis
Fulmen benigni mansuefactum Patris,
Pie repressis ignibus, pepercerit.
Gens insolenti præpotens jactantia
Pollebat olim: quam fluentem nequiter
Corrupta vulgo solverat lascivia;
Et inde bruto contumax fastidio
Cultum superni negligebat Numinis.
Offensa tandem jugis indulgentiæ
Censura, justis excitatur motibus,
Dextram perarmat rhomphæali incendio,
Nimbos crepantes, et fragosos turbines
Vibrans tonantum nube flammarum quatit.
Sed pœnitendi dum datur diecula,
Si forte vellent improbam libidinem
Veteresque nugas condomare, ac frangere.
Suspendit ictum terror exorabilis,
Paulumque dicta substitit sententia.
Jonam prophetam mitis ultor excitat,
Pœnæ imminentis iret ut prænuncius;
Sed nosset ille quum minacem judicem
Servare malle, quam ferire ac plectere,
Tectam latenter vertit in Tharsos fugam.
Celsam paratis pontibus scandit ratem:
Udo revincta fune puppis solvitur.
Itur per altum; fit procellosum mare:
Tum causa tanti quæritur periculi:
Sors in fugacem missa vatem decidit.
Jussus perire solus e cunctis reus,
Cujus voluta crimen urna expresserat,
Præceps rotatur, et profundo immergitur:
Exceptus inde belluinis faucibus,
Alvi capacis vivus hauritur specu.
Intactus exin tertiæ noctis vice,
Monstri vomentis pellitur singultibus,
Qua murmuranti fine fluctus frangitur,
Salsosque candens spuma tundit pumices,
Ructatus exit, seque servatum stupet.
In Ninivitas se coactus percito
Gressu reflectit: quos ut increpaverat,
Pudenda censor imputans opprobria.
Impendit, inquit, ira summi vindicis,
Urbemque flamma mox cremabit: credite.
Apicem deinceps ardui montis petit,
Visurus inde conglobatum turbidæ
Fumum ruinæ, cladis et diræ struem,
Tectus flagellis multinodi germinis,
Nato et repente perfruens umbraculo.
Sed mœsta postquam civitas vulnus novi
Hausit doloris, heu! supremum palpitat.
Cursant per ampla congregatim mœnia
Plebs, et senatus, omnis ætas civium,
Pallens juventus, ejulantes feminæ.
Placet frementem publicis jejuniis
Placare Christum: mos edendi spernitur.
Glaucos amictus induit monilibus
Matrona demptis, proque gemma, et serico
Crinem fluentem sordibus spargit cinis.
Squalent recincta veste pullati patres,
Setasque plangens turba sumit textiles,
Impexa villis virgo bestialibus
Nigrante vultum contegit velamine,
Jacens arenis et puer provolvitur.
Rex ipse Coos æstuantem murices
Lænam revulsa dissipabat fibula,
Geminas virentes, et lapillos sutiles,
Insigne frontis exuebat vinculum
Turpi capillos impeditus pulvere.
Nullus bibendi, nemo vescendi memor:
Jejuna mensas pubes omnis liquerat:
Quin et negato lacte vagientium
Fletu madescunt parvulorum cunulæ:
Succum papillæ parca nutrix derogat.
Greges et ipsos claudit armentalium
Solers virorum cura, ne vagum pecus
Contingat ore rorulenta gramina,
Potum strepentis neve fontis hauriat:
Vacuis querelæ personant præsepibus.
Mollitus his, et talibus, brevem Deus
Iram refrænat, temperans oraculum
Prosper sinistrum: prona nam dementia
Haud difficulter supplicum mortalium
Solvit reatum, fitque fautrix flentium.
I fain would now, in holy fasting’s praise,
tell, from the book of truth,
how God our Father, with his wonted love,
repressed the fire and thunder of his wrath,
and spared the city doomed to be destroyed.
In ancient days a city flourished, whose mighty
power drove her into haughtiness extreme. Criminal indulgence and lewd corruption had destroyed the
morals of her people, so brutalizing them, that
they left the worship of the God of heaven.
At length, the tired patience of God’s long-suffering
gave way to justice, which moves his hand
to prepare his arrowed lightnings,
and storm-voiced clouds, and jarring whirlwind,
and thunderbolts that shake the vault of heaven.
Yet does he grant them time for penitence,
wherein to tame and break the wickedness
of their lust and wonted follies. Mercy, that
waits for prayer, holds back the blow of anger;
a brief delay puts off the day of doom.
The meek avenger sends a herald of the coming
woe: it is Jonas the prophet.
But he, well knowing that the threatening Judge
is prone to save rather than to strike and punish,
stealthily to Tharsis flees.
A noble vessel was prepared for sail, whereon he takes
his place. The anchor weighed, the vessel puts from
shore. She ploughs the deep, when, lo! a storm. Endangered thus, the crew would know the cause,
and casting lots, it falls upon the fugitive, the prophet.
Of all, the only one in fault is he.
His guilt is clear, the lot has told the tale.
Headlong is he cast, and buried in the deep;
and as he falls, a whale’s huge jaw receives the prophet,
burying him alive in the sepulchre of his capacious womb.
There for three nights does Jonas lie unhurt;
which passed, the sick monster heaves him from his womb,
just where the murmuring billows break upon the shore,
and whiten the salty rocks with foam.
The prophet comes forth, wondering, but safe.
Compelled, to Ninive he turns his hurried steps.
He chides, he censures, he charges her with all her shamless crimes,
saying: ‘The anger of the great Avenger shall fall upon you,
and speedily your city shall be made a prey to fire.
Believe the prophecy I speak.’
Then to the summit of a lofty hill he goes,
from whence to see the thickened clouds of smoke
rising from the ruined heap, and gaze upon the pile of unpitied dead.
Suddenly there grows upon the spot an ivy-tree
whose knotted branches yield a shady cover.
But scarce had the mournful city felt the wound of her coming grief,
than deathly fear possesses her.
Her people and her senate, her young and old,
youths pale with panic, and women wailing loud,
hurry in groups along the spacious walls.
It is decreed: the anger of Christ shall by fasting be
appeased. Henceforth they spurn to eat.
Matrons doff their trinkets, and vest in dingy garbs,
and, for their wreaths of pearls and silks,
sprinkle ashes on their hair
Patricians put on robes of sombre hue;
the people, weeping, take hair-shirts for their dress;
dishevelled maidens, clad in skins of beasts,
hide their faces in veils of black.
Children, too, make the dust of earth their bed.
The king himself from his shoulders
tears the Cossian purple robe,
and for the diadem that decks his brow
with emeralds and gems,
strews grim ashes on his head.
None thinks of drink or meat. Among the youths,
not one would touch the food prepared.
Nay, babes are kept from their mothers’ breasts,
and in their cradles, wet with tears,
these little fasters lie.
The herdsman, too, pens up his flock with care,
lest, left to roam, the dewy grass or rippling fount
should tempt them to transgress the universal fast;
but now, pent up, their moans
rebellow through their prison-cave.
Thus is God appeased, his anger brief restrained,
and threatened evil yields to proffered love:
for mercy leans to pardon men their sins,
if they but humbly pray; and when they weep,
she makes herself their friend.
Let us close the day with these stanzas in honour of the holy cross. We have taken them from the Triodion of the Greek Church.
Hymn
(Feria VI. mediæ Septimanæ)
Sanctissimum lignum, in quo Christus manibus extensis adversarias potestates devicit, adoremus jejunio nitidi, ad laudem et gloriam Omnipotentis.
Crux salutifera sanctificationem suppeditans proposita cenitur. Accedamus, cor et corpus emundantes.
Igne mandatorum tuorum munda me, benigne, et da, ut salutiferam Passionem tuam intuear, et cum desiderio adorem, cruce vallatus et conservatus.
Aquis jejunii pectora purgati, lignum crucis fideliter amplectamur, in quo Christus crucifixus aquam immortalitatis nobis emisit.
Crucis velut velo alati, salutarem jejunii navigationem jam mediam emensi sumus, Jesu Salvator, per quam deduc nos ad Passionis tuæ portum.
Præmonstrabat te Moyses in monte, o crux, in gentium interitum. Nos vero efformantes te, et corde intuentes et adorantes, hostes carnis expertes virtute tua profligamus.
Purified by our fast, let us, to the praise and glory of the omnipotent God, venerate that most holy cross, whereon Christ, with his arms stretched forth, overcame the power of our enemy.
The saving cross, that sanctifies us, is now exposed before our eyes. Let us draw nigh, having purified our body and our soul.
Cleanse me, O merciful Saviour, by the fire of thy commandments, and grant that I may contemplate thy saving Passion, and lovingly adore it, having the cross for my protection and defence.
Having our hearts purified by the waters of our fast, let us, with faith, embrace the wood of the cross, on which Christ was crucified, and gave us the water of immortality.
Having thy cross as our sail, we have already winged our way half through the saving voyage of our fast. Lead us by the same, O Jesus our Saviour, into the haven of thy Passion.
Moses on the mount was a figure of thee, O holy cross, (when he prayed with his outstretched arms), unto the destruction of the Amalekites. Grant that we, who sign thee on ourselves, and lovingly gaze on and venerate thee, may, by thy power, put our spiritual enemies to flight.
[1] 2 Mach. ix. 13.
[2] Is. xii. 3.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The Station in Rome was formerly the church of the martyr St. Cyriacus, and as such it is still given in the Roman missal; but this holy sanctuary having been destroyed, and the relics of the holy deacon translated to the church of St. Mary in Via lata, it is here that the Station is now held.
Collect
Nostra tibi, Domine, quæsumus, sint accepta jejunia: quæ nos et expiando gratia tua dignos efficiant; et ad remedia perducant æterna. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
May our fast, O Lord, we beseech thee, be acceptable to thee, and, having purified us from sin, make us worthy of thy grace, and procure us everlasting remedies. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
Epistle
Lectio Danielis Prophetæ.
Cap. xiv.
In diebus illis: Congregati sunt Babylonii ad regem, et dixerunt ei: Trade nobis Danielem, qui Bel destruxit, et draconem interfecit; alioquin interficiemus te et domum tuam. Vidit ergo rex quod irruerent in eum vehementer: ut necessitate compulsus tradidit eis Danielem. Qui miserunt eum in lacum leonum, et erat ibi diebus sex. Porro in lacu erant leones septem, et dabantur eis duo corpora quotidie, et duæ oves: et tunc non data sunt eis, ut devorarent Danielem. Erat autem Habacuc propheta in Judæa, et ipse coxerat pulmentum, et intriverat panes in alveolo: et ibat in campum ut ferret messoribus. Dixitque angelus Domini ad Habacuc: Fer prandium quod habes in Babylonem Danieli, qui est in lacu leonum. Et dixit Habacuc: Domine, Babylonem non vidi, et lacum nescio. Et apprehendit eum angelus Domini in vertice ejus, et portavit eum capillo capitis sui, posuitque eum in Babylone supra lacum in impetu spiritus sui. Et clamavit Habacuc, dicens: Daniel, serve Dei, tolle prandium quod misit tibi Deus. Et ait Daniel: Recordatus es mei Deus, et non dereliquisti diligentes te. Surgensque Daniel comedit. Porro angelus Domini restituit Habacuc confestim in loco suo. Venit ergo rex die septimo, ut lugeret Danielem: et venit ad lacum, et introspexit, et ecce Daniel sedens in medio leonum. Et exclamavit voce magna rex, dicens: Magnus es, Domine Deus Danielis! Et extraxit eum de lacu leonum. Porro illos qui perditionis ejus causa fuerant, intromisit in lacum, et devorati sunt in momento coram eo. Tunc rex ait: Paveant omnes habitantes in universa terra Deum Danielis; quia ipse est Salvator, faciens signa et mirabilia in terra: qui liberavit Danielem de lacu leonum.
Lesson from Daniel the Prophet.
Ch. xiv.
In those days: The people of Babylon gathered together against the king: and said to him: Deliver up to us Daniel, who hath destroyed Bel, and killed the dragon, otherwise we will destroy thee and thy house. And the king saw that they pressed upon him violently; and being constrained by necessity, he delivered Daniel to them. And they cast him into the den of lions, and he was there six days. And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given to them two carcasses every day, and two sheep: but then they were not given unto them, to the intent that they might devour Daniel. Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, and he had boiled pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl; and was going into the field to carry it to the reapers. And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc: Carry the dinner which thou hast, into Babylon, to Daniel, who is in the lions’ den. And Habacuc said: Lord, I never saw Babylon, nor do I know the den. And the angel of the Lord took him by the top of his head, and carried him by the hair of his head, and set him in Babylon, over the den, in the force of his spirit. And Habacuc cried, saying: O Daniel, thou servant of God, take the dinner that God hath sent thee. And Daniel said: Thou hast remembered me, O God, and thou hast not forsaken them that love thee. And Daniel arose and ate. And the angel of the Lord presently set Habacuc again in his own place. And upon the seventh day the king came to bewail Daniel: and he came to the den, and looked in, and behold Daniel was sitting in the midst of the lions. And the king cried out with a loud voice, saying: Great art thou, O Lord, the God of Daniel. And he drew him out of the lions’ den. But those that had been the cause of his destruction, he cast into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before him. Then the king said: Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the God of Daniel: for he is the Saviour, working signs and wonders in the earth; who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions den.
This lesson was intended, in an especial manner, as an instruction to the catechumens. They were preparing to enroll themselves as Christians; it was, therefore, necessary that they should have examples put before them, which they might study and imitate, Daniel, oast into the lions’ den for having despised and destroyed the idol Bel, was the type of a martyr. This prophet had confessed the true God in Babylon; he had put to death a dragon, to which the people, after Bel had been destroyed, had given their idolatrous worship; nothing less than Daniel’s death could appease their indignation. The holy man full of confidence in God, allowed himself to be thrown into the lions’ den, thus setting an example of courageous faith to the future Christians: they would imitate him, and for three centuries would nobly shed their blood for the establishment of the Church of Christ. In the Roman catacombs we continually meet with the representation of Daniel surrounded by lions, and many of these paintings date from the ages of persecution. Thus the eyes of the catechumens could see what their ears heard; both told them to be ready for trial and sacrifice. It is true, the history of Daniel showed them the power of God interfering and delivering him from death; but they were fully aware that, in order to merit a like deliverance, they would have to show a like constancy, and be ready to suffer death rather than deny their faith. From time to time, a Christian was led to the amphitheatre, and the wild beasts would fawn at his feet: but such miracles only put off the martyr’s sacrifice, and perhaps won others to the faith.
It was the prophet’s courage, and not his victory over the lions, that the Church proposed to her catechumens. The great thing for them to bear in mind was this maxim of our Lord: Fear not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body into hell.[1] We are the descendants of these early Christians; but our faith has not cost us what it cost them. And yet we have a tyrant to try even ours: we have to confess our faith, not indeed before pro consuls and emperors, but before the world. Let the example of the brave martyrs send us forth from our Lent with a courageous determination to withstand this tyrant, with his maxims, his pomps, and his works. There has been a truce between him and us, during these days of retirement and penance; but the battle will soon be renewed, and then we must stand the brunt, and show that we are Christians.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.
Cap. vii.
In illo tempore: Ambulabat Jesus in Galilæam, non enim volebat in Judæam ambulare, quia quærebant eum interficere. Erat autem in proximo dies festus Judæorum, Scenopegia. Dixerunt autem ad eum fratres ejus: Transi hinc, et vade in Judæam, ut et disci puli tui videant opera tua quæ facis. Nemo quippe in occulto quid facit, et quærit ipse in palam esse: si hæc facis, manifesta teipsum mundo. Neque enim fratres ejus credebant in eum. Dicit ergo eis Jesus: Tempus meum nondum advenit: tempus autem vestrum semper est paratum. Non potest mundus odisse vos; me autem odit: quia ego testimonium perhibeo de illo, quod opera ejus mala sunt. Vos ascendite ad diem festum hunc, ego autem non ascendo ad diem festum istum: quia meum tempus nondum impletum est. Hæc cum dixisset, ipse mansit in Galilæa. Ut autem ascenderunt fratres ejus, tunc et ipse ascendit ad diem festum non manifeste, sed quasi in occulto. Judæi ergo quærebant eum in die festo, et dicebant: Ubi est ille? et murmur multum erat in turba de eo. Quidam enim dicebant: Quia bonus est. Aliiautem dicebant: Non, sed seducit turbas. Nemo tamen palam loquebatur de illo, propter metum Judæorum
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.
Ch. vii.
At that time: Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand. And his brethren said to him: Depart from hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see thy works which thou dost. For there is no man that doth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly; if thou do these things, manifest thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said to them: My time is not yet come: but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth: because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go you up to this festival day, but I go not up to this festival day; because my time is not accomplished. When he had said these things, he himself staid in Galilee. But after his brethren were gone up, then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. The Jews therefore sought him on the festival day, and said: Where is he? And there was much murmuring among the multitude concerning him. For some said: He is a good man. And others said: No, but he seduceth the people. Yet no man spoke openly of him, for fear of the Jews.
The facts here related refer to an earlier part of our Lord’s life; but the Church proposes them to our consideration to-day, on account of their connexion with those given us in the Gospels read to us during the last few days. We learn from these words of St. John, that the Jews were plotting the death of Jesus, not only when this the last Pasch for the Synagogue was approaching, but even so far back as the feast of tabernacles, which was kept in September. The Son of God was reduced to the necessity of going from place to place as it were in secret; if He would go to Jerusalem, He must take precautions! Let us adore these humiliations of the Man-God, who has deigned to sanctify every position of life, even that of the just man persecuted and obliged to hide himself from his enemies. It would have been an easy matter for Him to confound His adversaries by working miracles, such as those which Herod’s curiosity sought for; He could have compelled them to treat Him with the reverence that was due to Him. But this is not God’s way: He does not force man to duty; He acts, and then leaves man to recognize his Creator’s claims. In order to do this, man must be attentive and humble, he must impose silence on his passions. The divine light shows itself to the soul that thus comports herself. First, she sees the actions, the works, of God; then, she believes, and wishes to believe: her happiness, as well as her merit, lies in faith, and faith will be recompensed in eternity with light, with the vision.
Flesh and blood cannot understand this; they love show and noise. The Son of God, having come down upon this earth, could not subject Himself to such an abasement as that of making a parade of His infinite power before men. He had to work miracles, in order to give a guarantee of His mission; but, as Man, not everything He did was to be a miracle. By far the longest period of His life was devoted to the humble duties of a creature; had it not been so, how should we have learned from Him what we so much needed to know? His brethren (the Jews gave the name of brothers to all who were collaterally related) wished Jesus to make a display of His miraculous power, for some of the glory would have accrued to them. This their ambition caused our Lord to address them in these strong words, upon which we should meditate during this holy season, for, later on, we shall stand in need of the teaching: 'The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth.’ Let us, therefore, for the time to come, not please the world; its friendship would separate us from Jesus Christ.
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Da nobis, quæsumus, Domine, perseverantem in tua voluntate famulatum: ut in diebus nostris, et merito et numero, populus tibi serviens augeatur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Grant us, O Lord, we beseech thee, perseverance in thy service; that in our days, thy faithful may increase both in number and goodness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The following devout hymn, taken from the ancient Roman-French missals, may serve us as an expression of the sentiments we entertain towards our loving Redeemer.
Hymn
Rex Christe factor omnium,
Redemptor et credentium:
Placare votis supplicum
Te laudibus colentium.
Cujus benigna gratia
Crucis per alma vulnera,
Virtute solvit ardua
Primi parentis vincula.
Qui es Creator siderum,
Tegmen subisti carneum:
Dignatus es vilissimam
Pati doloris formulam.
Ligatus es ut solveres
Mundi mentis complices:
Per probra tergens crimina
Quæ mundus auxit plurima.
Cruci Redemptor figeris,
Terram sed omnem concutis:
Tradis potentem spiritum,
Nigrescit atque sæculum.
Mox in paternæ gloriæ
Victor resplendens culmine;
Cum Spiritus munimine
Defende nos, Rex optime.
Amen.
O Jesus! thou King and Creator of all,
Redeemer, too, of believers,
be appeased by the prayer
and praise of thy humble suppliants.
’Twas thy loving grace that,
by the dear wounds of the cross,
broke so powerfully the fetters
forged by our first parents.
Thou, that art the Creator of the stars,
didst deign to assume
a body of flesh, and endure
the most humiliating sufferings.
Thy hands were tied, that thou mightest loosen sinners,
accomplices of a world condemned:
thou didst suffer shame, so to cleanse away
the manifold sins of the world.
Thou, our Redeemer, art fastened to the cross,
but thou movest the whole earth:
thou breathest forth thy mighty Spirit,
and the world is buried in darkness.
But soon we see thee shining
triumphantly on the high throne of thy Father’s glory:
do thou, O best of kings,
defend us by the protection of the holy Spirit.
Amen.
Let us pay our homage to the holy cross, in these words of the Greek liturgy.
Hymn
(Feria IV mediæ Septimanæ)
Domine omnium et conditor Deus, in medio terræ in crucem elevatus es, attrahens ad te eam, quæ pessimo inimici suasu corruerat, humanam naturam. Quapropter sincere te concelebramus, Passione tua roborati.
Mundatis sensibus jejunii lumine, intellectualibus crucis radiis largissime illustremur, eamque hodie propositam reverenter conspicientes, castis labiis, ore et corde adoremus.
Locum ubi steterunt pedes Domini adoremus, crucem videlicet divinam; obsecrantes ut animæ nostræ pedes in petra divinorum mandatorum firmentur, et ut gressus ejus, divina gratia, in viam pacis dirigantur.
Plaudite omnes fines terræ in hymnis, quando adorari videtis lignum in quo Christus suspensus, et diabolus vulneratus est.
Vivifica crux hodie proponitur: cum gaudio igitur et timore adoremus Domini crucem, ut Spiritum sanctum accipiamus.
Accedens ut te tangam, vivifica crux, cohorresco et lingua et mente, cernens in te divinum Domini mei sanguinem effusum esse.
Confirma, Domine, Ecclesiam tuam, quam acquisivisti virtute crucis tuæ; in illa enim inimicum triumphasti, totumque mundum illuminasti.
Thou, O Lord God, the Creator of all things, wast lifted up on the cross, in the middle of the earth; thou didst draw up to thyself that human nature which had fallen by the most wicked persuasion of the enemy. Wherefore we pay thee our loyal homage, for thy Passion has strengthened us.
The light of fasting has purified our senses; may we be most brightly enlightened by the spiritual rays of thy cross. On this day it is exposed to our view; grant that we may devoutly kiss it, and venerate it in our hymns and with our hearts.
Let us adore the place where stood his feet, that is, the holy cross, and beseech him to firmly fix the feet of our soul on the rock of his divine commandments, and, by his holy grace, guide her steps into the way of peace.
Loudly sing your hymns, O all ye ends of the earth, when ye behold men venerating that wood whereon Christ was fastened, and whereby satan received his wound.
The life-giying cross is this day exposed: let us, then, with joy and fear, venerate the cross of our Lord, that we may receive the Holy Ghost.
O life-giving cross, my tongue and heart tremble with fear, as I draw nigh to touch thee, for I see the divine Blood of my Lord poured forth upon thee.
Strengthen, O Lord, thy Church, which thou didst purchase to thyself by the power of thy cross; for by the cross thou didst triumph over the enemy and enlighten the whole world.
[1] St. Matt. X. 28.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
At Rome, the Station is in the church of Saint Marcellus, Pope and Martyr. This church was once the house of the holy lady Lucina, who gave it to the Pontiff, that he might consecrate it to God.
Collect
Sanctificato hoc jejunio, Deus, tuorum corda fidelium miserator illustra: et quibus devotionis præstas affectum, præbe supplicantibus pium benignus auditum. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Enlighten, O God of mercy, the hearts of thy people by means of this holy fast; and since all our devotion is the effect of thy bounty, mercifully hear the petitions we make. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio Libri Levitici.
Cap. xix.
In diebus illis: Locutus eat Dominus ad Moysen, dicens: Loquere ad omnem cœtum filiorum Israel, et dices ad eos: Ego Dominus Deus vester. Non facietis furtum. Non mentiemini, nec decipiet unuequisque proximum suum. Non perjurabis in nomine meo, nec pollues nomen Dei tui. Ego Dominus. Non facies calumniam proximo tuo, nec vi opprimes eum. Non morabitur opus mercenarii tui apud to usque mane. Non maledices surdo, nec coram cæco pones offendiculum: sed timebis Dominum Deum tuum, quia ego sum Dominus. Non facies quod iniquum est, nec injuste judicabis. Non consideres personam pauperis, nec honores vultum potentis. Juste judica proximo tuo. Non eris criminator, nec susurro in populo. Non stabis contra sanguinem proximi tui. Ego Dominus. Non oderis fratrem tuum in corde tuo, sed publice argue eum, ne habeas super illo peccatum. Non quæras ultionem, nec memor eris injuriæ civium tuorum. Diliges amicum tuum sicut teipsum. Ego Dominas. Leges meas custodite. Ego enim sum Dominus Deus vester.
Lesson from the book of Leviticus.
Ch. xix.
In those days: the Lord spake to Moses, saying: Speak to all the assembly of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: I am the Lord your God. You shall not steal. You shall not lie: neither shall any man deceive his neighbour. Thou shalt not swear falsely by my name, nor profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbour, nor oppress him by violence. The wages of him that has been hired by thee, shall not abide with thee until the morning. Thou shalt not speak evil of the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind: but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord. Thou shalt not do that which is unjust, nor judge unjustly. Respect not the person of the poor, nor honour the countenance of the mighty. Judge thy neighbour according to justice. Thou shalt not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people. Thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord. Keep ye my laws, for I am the Lord your God.
This passage from Leviticus, wherein our duties to our neighbour are so dearly and so fully defined, is read to us to-day, in order that we may see how we fulfil these important duties, and correct whatever short-comings we may discover in ourselves. It is God who here speaks; it is God who commands. Observe that phrase: I am the Lord: He repeats it several times, to show us that if we injure our neighbour, He, God Himself, will become the avenger. How strange must this doctrine have seemed to the catechumens, who had been brought up in the selfish and heartless principles of paganism! Here they are told that all men are brethren, and that God is the common Father of all, commanding all to love one another with sincere charity, and without distinction of nation or class. Let us Christians resolve to fulfil this precept to the letter: these are days for good resolutions. Let us remember that the commandments we have been reading were given to the Israelite people, many ages before the preaching of the law of love. If, then, God exacted from the Jew a cordial love of his fellow-men, when the divine law was written on mere tablets of stone; what will He not require from the Christian, who can now read that law in the Heart of the Man-God, who has come down from heaven and made Himself our Brother, in order that we might find it easier and sweeter to fulfil the precept of charity? Human nature united in His Person to the divine, is henceforth sacred; it has become an object of the heavenly Father’s love. It is out of fraternal love for this our nature that Jesus suffered death, teaching us, by His own example, to have such love for our brethren, that, if necessary, we ought to lay down our lives for them.[1] It is the beloved disciple that teaches us this, and he had it from his divine Master.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.
Cap. x.
In illo tempore: Facta sunt encœnia in Jerosolymis: et hiems erat. Et ambulabat Jesus in templo, in porticu Salomonis. Circumdederunt ergo eum Judæi, et dicebant ei: Quousque animam nostram tollis? Si tu es Christus, dic nobis palam. Respondit eis Jesus: Loquor vobis, et non creditis. Opera quæ ego facio in nomine Patris mei, hæc testimonium perhibent de me. Sed vos non creditis, quia non estis ex ovibus meis. Oves meæ vocem meam audiunt: et ego cognosco eas, et sequuntur me: et ego vitam æternam do eis: et non peribunt in æternam, et non rapiet eas quisquam de manu mea. Pater meus quod dedit mihi, majus omnibus est: et nemo potest rapere de manu Patris mei. Ego, et Pater unum sumus. Sustulerunt ergo lapides Judæi, ut lapidarent eum. Respondit eis Jesus: Multa bona opera ostendi vobis ex Patre meo; propter quod eorum opus me lapidatis? Responderunt ei Judæi: De bono opere non lapidamus te, sed de blasphemia, et quia tu homo cum sis, facis teipsum Deum. Respondit eis Jesus: Nonne scriptum est in lege vestra: Quia ego dixi, dii estis? Si illos dixit deos, ad quos sermo Dei factus est, et non potest solvi Scriptura: quem Pater sanctificavit, et misit in mundum, vos dicitis: Quia blasphemas; quia dixi, Filius Dei sum? Si non facio opera Patris mei, nolite credere mihi. Si autem facio, et si mihi non vultis credere, operibus credite, ut cognoscatis, et credatis, quia Pater in me est, et ego in Patre.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.
Ch. x.
At that time: it was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem: and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. The Jews therefore came round about him, and said to him: How long dost thou hold our souls in suspense? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them: I speak to you and you believe not. The works that I do in the name of my Father, they give testimony of me. But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me: and I give them eternal life: and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all: and no man can snatch it out of the hand of my Father. I and the Father are one. The Jews then took up stones to stone him. Jesus answered them: Many good works I have showed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me? The Jews answered him: For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy: and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said you are gods? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God was spoken, and the Scripture cannot be broken; do you say of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest: because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though you will not believe me believe the works, that you may know, and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.
After the feast of tabernacles came that of the Dedication, and Jesus remained in Jerusalem. The hatred His enemies bore Him is greater than ever. They come round about Him, that they may make Him say He is the Christ, and then accuse Him of claiming a mission which does not belong to Him. Jesus deigns not to reply to their question, but tells them that they have seen His works, and that these give ample testimony of His being Christ, the Son of God. It is by faith, and by faith alone, that man can here know his God. God manifests Himself by His divine works: man sees them, and is bound to believe the truth to which they bear testimony. By thus believing, he has both the certitude of what he believes, and the merit of believing. The proud Jew rebels against this: he would fain dictate to God how He should act, and sees not that such a pretension is impious and absurd.
But, if Jesus openly declare the truth, He will scandalize these evil-minded men! Be it so; the truth must be preached. Our Lord has others to consult besides them; there are the well-intentioned, who will believe what He teaches. He, therefore, utters these sublime words, whereby He declares, not only that He is Christ, but that He is God: I and the Father are one. He knew that this would enrage His enemies; but He had to make Himself known to the world, and to arm the Church against the false doctrines of heretics, who would rise up in future ages. One of these is to be Arius, who will teach that Jesus is not God, but only the most perfect of creatures: the Church will answer, that Jesus is one with the Father, consubstantial with the Father: and then, after causing much trouble and sin, Arianism will die out and be forgotten. The Jews mentioned in to-day’s Gospel are the fore-runners of Arius; they understand what our Lord says: He says He is God, and they seek to stone Him. Jesus gives them a fresh grace; He shows them why they should receive what He here teaches; He reminds them, by the Scriptures they know off by heart, that the name god has sometimes been applied, in a limited sense, to men who had certain high offices put upon them by heaven; and then, He bids them think of all the miracles they have seen Him work, which so plainly testify to His being assisted by His Father, and once more declares Himself to be God, saying: The Father is in Me, and I in the Father. But men hardened in obstinacy, as these are, cannot be convinced: and the sin they have committed against the Holy Ghost is working its effects. How different is it with the sheep of this divine Shepherd! They hear His voice; they follow Him; He gives them eternal life; no man shall pluck them out of His hand. Happy sheep indeed! They believe, because they love; and as it is through the heart that truth gains ascendancy over them, so is it by pride of intellect that darkness gains admission into the soul of the unbeliever, and lasts as long as pride lasts. Alas! poor unbeliever! he loves his darkness; he calls it light; he blasphemes when he thinks he reasons, just as these Jews crucified the Son of God, that, as they said, they might give glory to God.
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Adesto supplicationibus nostris, omnipotens Deus; et quibus fiduciam sperandæ pietatis indulges, consuetæ misericordiæ tribue benignus 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.
The Mozarabic breviary gives us the following beautiful prayer, which consists of exclamations to our suffering Jesus.
Prayer
(Sabbato Dominicæ V. Quadragesimæ)
℣. Verus Dei Filius Christe,
℟. Exaudi: populo supplicanti miserere.
℣. Qui triumpho crucis tuæ salvasti solus orbem, tu cruoris tui pæna nos libera.
℟. Et exaudi.
℣. Qui moriens mortem damnas, resurgens vitam præstas, sustinens pro nobis pænam indebitam.
℟. Et exaudi.
℣. Passionis tuæ dies celebremus indemnes: ut per hoc dulcedo tua nos foveat.
℟. Et exaudi.
℣. Pro quibus passus es crucem, non permittas perire; sed per crucem due ad vitam perpetuam.
℟. Et exaudi.
℣. O Jesus! thou true Son of God.
℟. Graciously hear us! have mercy on thy suppliant people.
℣. Thou that alone didst save the world by the triumph of thy cross, do thou, by the Blood thou didst shed, deliver us.
℟. And graciously hear us.
℣. By thy death, thou didst destroy death; by thy Resurrection, thou didst give us life; for our sake thou didst suffer undue punishment.
℟. And graciously hear us.
℣. May we celebrate, in peace, these days of thy Passion, and thereby be consoled by thy sweetness.
℟. And graciously hear us.
℣. Let not them perish, for whom thou didst suffer the cross; but, by thy cross, lead them to life everlasting.
℟. And graciously hear us.
Let us now turn towards the holy cross. These words of the Greek Church, in her Triodion, will assist our devotion.
Hymn
(Feriæ V. mediæ Septimanæ)
Crucis speciem insinuans, manus, permutato ordine, olim expandit decantatissimus Jacob, benedictionem nepotibus impertiens; simulque salutiferam benedictionem quæ ad nos omnes pertingit indicans.
Te salutiferam armaturam, te invictum trophæum, lætitiæ signum, quo mors occisa est, amplectimur, illustres effecti, ejus gloria qui in te, crux honoratissima, affixus est.
Assistunt incorporearum Virtutum ordines trementes coram ligno vitam præbente. In te enim Christus sanguinem effudit, pretium redemptionis repræsentans, dæmonibus piaculare et capitale, ob perniciem hominibus illatam.
Percussum me hostia gladio sana sanguine tuo, Verbum, et lancea celeriter peccatorum meorum chirographum disrumpe, et in librum vitæ inscribe.
Inferni habitaculum concussisti, ubi in terra defixa es: fidelibus autem fulcrum inconcussum et stabilis protectio effecta es, o veneranda crux.
Feraces virtutum effecti decerpamus divini ligni vivificos fructus, quos protulit nobis in hoc extensus Jesus vitis illa fructifera.
Laudamus, Jesu, immensam bonitatem tuam adorantes crucem, lanceam et arundinem per quam sustulisti, misericors, inimicitiarum medium parietem.
When the most praiseworthy patriarch Jacob was, of old, about to bless his children, he crossed his arms; in this he represented the cross, and prefigured that saving blessing which thence came to each of us.
We embrace thee, most venerable cross, as our armour of salvation, the invincible trophy, the standard of joy, whereby death was put to death; for we have been made to share in the glory of him that was nailed upon thee.
The choirs of the angelic Powers stand in holy awe around thee, O life-giving tree! For it is on thee that Christ shed his Blood, which was the price of our redemption, and which utterly destroyed all those rights that sin had given the devil over mankind.
O Word (made Flesh)! the sword of the enemy hath struck me; heal me by thy Blood. Speedily tear, with thy spear, the hand-writing of my sins, and write my name in the book of life.
O venerable cross! when thou wast fixed in the earth, thou didst make the region of hell to tremble; but thou wast made a firm support and unshaken protection to the faithful.
Being made fruitful in virtue, let us pluck from the divine tree those life-giving fruits, offered unto us by that rich Vine, Jesus, who hung stretched upon it.
O Jesus! we praise thy immense goodness, as we venerate the cross, and spear, and reed, whereby, O merciful God, thou didst remove the wall of enmity that stood between us and thee.
[1] 1 St. John iii. 16.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The Station at Rome is in the church of Saint Apollinaris, who was a disciple of St. Peter, and afterwards bishop of Ravenna and martyr.
Collect
Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut dignitas conditions humanæ per immoderantiam sauciata, medicinalis parcimoniæ studio reformetur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that the dignity of human nature, which hath been wounded by excess, may be cured by the practice of healing temperance. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio Danielis Prophetæ.
Cap. iii.
In diebus illis: Oravit Azarias Dominum dicens: Domine Deus noster, ne quæsumus, tradas nos in perpetuum propter nomen tuum, et ne dissipes testamentum tuum: neque auferas misericordiam tuam a nobis, propter Abraham dilectum tuum, et Isaac servum tuum, et Israel sanctum tuum; quibus locutus es, pollicens quod multiplicares semen eorum sicut stellae cœli, et sicut arenam quæ est in littore maris: quia, Domine, imminuti sumus plus quam omnes gentes,sumusque humiles in universa terra hodie propter peccata nostra. Et non est in tempore hoc princeps, et dux, et propheta, neque ho locaustum, neque sacrificium, neque oblatio, neque incensum, neque locus primitiarum coram te, ut possimus invenire misericordiam tuam: sed in animo contrito, et spiritu humilitatis suscipiamur. Sicut in holocausto arietum, et taurorum, et sicut in millibus agnorum pinguium: sic fiat sacrificium nostrum in conspectu tuo hodie, ut placeat tibi: quoniam non est confusio confidentibus in te. Et nunc sequimur te in toto corde, et timemus te, et quærimus faciem tuam. Ne confundas nos, sed fac nobiscum juxta mansuetudinem tuam, et secundum multitudinem misericordiæ tuæ. Et erue nos in mirabilibus tuis, et da gloriam nomini tuo, Domine: et confundantur omnes qui ostendunt servis tuis mala, confundantur in omnipotentia tua, et robur eorum conteratur; et sciant quia tu es Dominus Deus solus, et gloriosus super orbem terrarum, Domine Deus noster.
Lesson from Daniel the Prophet.
Ch. iii.
In those days, Azarias prayed to the Lord saying: O Lord our God, deliver us not up for ever, we beseech thee, for thy name’s sake, and abolish not thy covenant: and take not away thy mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham thy beloved, and Isaac thy servant, and Israel thy holy one; to whom thou hast spoken, promising that thou wouldst multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea shore. For we, O Lord, are diminished more than any nation, and are brought low in all the earth this day for our sins. Neither is there at this time prince, or leader, or prophet, or holocaust, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place of first-fruits before thee, that we may find thy mercy: nevertheless, in a contrite heart and humble spirit, let us be accepted. As in holocausts of rams, and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be made in thy sight this day, that it may please thee: for there is no confusion to them that trust in thee. And now we follow thee with all our heart, and we fear thee, and seek thy face. Put us not to confusion, but deal with us according to thy meekness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies. And deliver us according to thy wonderful works, and give glory to thy name, O Lord; and let all them be confounded that show evils to thy servants, let them be confounded in all thy might, and let their strength be broken; and let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God, and glorious over all the world, O Lord our God.
Thus did Juda, when captive in Babylon, pour forth her prayers to God, by the mouth of Azarias. Sion was desolate beyond measure; her people were in exile; her solemnities were hushed. Her children were to continue in a strange land for seventy years; after which God would be mindful of them, and lead them, by the hand of Cyrus, back to Jerusalem, when the building of the second temple would be begun, that temple which was to receive the Messias within its walls. What crime had Juda committed, that she should be thus severely punished? The daughter of Sion had fallen into idolatry; she had broken the sacred engagements which made her the bride of her God. Her crime, however, was expiated by these seventy years of captivity; and when she returned to the land of her fathers, she never relapsed into the worship of false gods. When the Son of God came to dwell in her, He found her innocent of idolatry. But scarcely had forty years elapsed after the Ascension of this divine Redeemer, than Juda was again an exile; not, indeed, led captive into Babylon, but dispersed in every nation under the sun, after having first seen the massacre of thousands of her children. This time it is not merely for seventy years, but for eighteen centuries, that she is without prince, or leader, or prophet, or holocaust, or sacrifice, or temple. Her new crime must be greater than idolatry; for, after all these long ages of suffering and humiliation, the justice of the Father is not appeased! It is, because the Blood that was shed by the Jewish people on Calvary was not the blood of a man—it was the Blood of a God. The very sight of the chastisement inflicted on the murderers proclaims to the world that they were deicides. Their crime was an unparalleled one; its punishment is to be so too; it is to last till the end of time, when God, for the sake of Abraham His beloved, and Isaac His servant, and Jacob His holy one, will visit Juda with an extraordinary grace, and her conversion will console the Church, whose affliction is then to be great by reason of the apostasy of many of her children. This spectacle of a whole people bearing on itself the curse of God for having crucified the Son of God, should make a Christian tremble for himself. It teaches him that divine justice is terrible, and that the Father demands an account of the Blood of His Son, even to the last drop, from those that shed it. Let us lose no time, but go at once, and, in this precious Blood, cleanse ourselves from the share we have had in the sin of the Jews; and, throwing off the chains of iniquity, let us imitate those among them whom we see, from time to time, separating themselves from their people and returning to the Messias: let us, also, be converts, and turn to that Jesus, whose hands are stretched out on the cross, ever ready to receive the humble penitent.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam.
Cap. vii.
In illo tempore: Rogabat Jesum quidam de pharisæis, ut manducaret cum illo. Et ingressus domum pharisæi, discubuit. Et ecce mulier quæ erat in civitate peccatrix, ut cognovit quod accubuisset in domo pharisæi, attulit alabastrum unguenti; et stans retro secus pedes ejus, lacrymis cœpit rigare pedes ejus, et capillis capitis sui tergebat, et osculabatur pedes ejus, et unguento ungebat. Videns autem pharisæus, qui vocaverat eum, ait intra se dicens: Hic si esset Propheta sciret utique, quæ, et qualis est mulier, quæ tangit eum: quia peccatrix est. Et respondens Jesus, dixit ad illum: Simon, habeo tibi aliquid dicere. At ille ait: Magieter, dic. Duo debitores erant cuidam fœneratori: unus debebat denarios quingentos, et alius quinquaginta. Non habentibus illis unde redderent, donavit utrisque. Quis ergo eum plus diligit? Respondens Simon, dixit: Æstimo quia is, cui plus donavit. At ille dixit ei: Recte judicasti. Et conversus ad mulierem, dixit Simoni: Vides hanc mulierem? Intravi in domum tuam: aquam pedibus meis non dedisti; hæc autem lacrymis rigavit pedes meos, et capillis suis tersit. Osculum mihi non dedisti; hæc autem ex quo intravit, non cessavit osculari pedes meos. Oleo caput meum non unxisti; hæc autem unguento unxit pedes meos. Propter quod dico tibi: Remittuntur ei peccata multa, quoniam dilexit multum. Cui autem minus dimittitur, minus diligit. Dixit autem ad illam: Remittuntur tibi peccata. Et coeperunt qui simul accumbebant, dicere intra se: Quis est hic, qui etiam peccata dimittit? Dixit autem ad mulierem: Fides tua te salvam fecit: vade in pace.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Ch. vii.
At that time: one of the pharisees desired him to eat with him. And he went into the house of the pharisee, and sat down to meat. And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that he sat at meat in the pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment; and standing behind at his feet, she began to wash his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And the pharisee, who had invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: This man, if he were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that touches him, that she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said to him: Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee. But he said: Master, say it. A certain creditor had two debtors: the one owed him five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which therefore of the two loveth him most? Simon answering, said: I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said to him: Thou hast judged rightly. And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house; thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she with tears hath washed my feet and with her hairs hath wiped them. Thou gavest me no kiss; but she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but she with ointment hath anointed my feet. Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. And he said to her: Thy sins are forgiven thee. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves; Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman: Thy faith hath made thee safe: go in peace.
What consolation there is for us in this Gospel, and how different are the reflections it suggests, from those we were just making upon the Epistle! The event here related does not belong to the time of our Saviour’s Passion; but, during these days of mercy, does it not behove us to glorify the meekness of that divine Heart, which is preparing to grant pardon to countless sinners throughout the world? Besides, is not Magdalene the inseparable companion of her dear crucified Master, even to Calvary? Let us, then, study this admirable penitent, this type of love faithful even to death.
Magdalene had led a wicked life: as the Gospel tells us elsewhere,[1] seven devils had taken up their abode within her. But, no sooner has she seen and heard Jesus, than immediately she is filled with a horror for sin; divine love is enkindled within her heart; she has but one desire: to make amends for her past life. Her sins have been public: her conversion must be so too. She has lived in vanity and luxury; she is resolved to give all up. Her perfumes are all to be for her God, her Jesus; that hair of hers, of which she has been so proud, shall serve to wipe His sacred feet; her eyes shall henceforth spend themselves in shedding tears of contrite love. The grace of the Holy Ghost urges her to go to Jesus. He is in the house of a pharisee, who is giving an entertainment. To go to Him now would be exposing herself to observation. She cares not. Taking with her an ointment of great worth, she makes her way in to the feast, throws herself at Jesus’ feet, washes them with her tears, wipes them with the hair of her head, kisses them, anoints them with the ointment. Jesus Himself tells us with what interior sentiments she accompanies these outward acts of respect: but even had He not spoken, her tears, her generosity, her position at His feet, tell us enough; she is heartbroken, she is grateful, she is humble: who but a pharisee could have mistaken her?
The pharisee, then is shocked! His heart has within it much of that Jewish pride which is soon to crucify the Messias. He looks disdainfully at Magdalene; he is disappointed with his Guest, and murmurs out his conclusion: This man, if He were a Prophet would surely know who and what manner of woman this is! Poor pharisee! If he had the spirit of God within him, he would recognize Jesus to be the promised Saviour, by this wonderful condescension shown to a penitent. With all his reputation as a pharisee, how contemptible he is compared with this woman! Jesus would give him a useful lesson, and draws the parallel between the two—Magdalene and the pharisee. He passes His own divine judgment on them, and the preference is given to Magdalene. What is it that has thus transformed her, and made her deserve, not only the pardon, but the praise, of Jesus? Her love: She hath loved her Redeemer, she hath loved Him much; and, therefore, she was forgiven much. A few hours ago this Magdalene loved but the world and its pleasures; now, she cares for nothing, sees nothing, loves nothing, but Jesus; she is a convert. Henceforward she keeps close to her divine Master; she is ambitious to supply His wants; but, above all, she longs to see and hear Him. When the hour of trial shall come, and His very apostles dare not be with Him, she will follow Him to Calvary, stand at the foot of the cross, and see Him die who has made her live. What an argument for hope is here, even for the worst of sinners! He to whom most is forgiven, is often the most fervent in love! You, then, whose souls are burdened with sins, think of your sins and confess them; but, most of all, think how you may most love. Let your love be in proportion to your pardon, and doubt it not: Your sins shall be forgiven.
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Esto, quæsumus Domine, propitius plebi tuæ: ut quæ tibi non placent respuentes, tuorum potius repleantur delectationibus mandatorum. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Be propitious, O Lord, we beseech thee, to thy people; that, forsaking what displeaseth thee, they may find comfort in keeping thy law. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us close this Thursday of Passion-week with the following devout hymn, taken from the Mozarabic breviary.
Hymn
Verbum Patris quod prodiit factum caro;
Agnus Dei peccata mundi auferens;
Ad te venimus cernui, ut inclytum
Bibamus almæ Passionis sanguinem.
Ostende vulnerum sacrorum stigmata:
Exsurgat insignis crucis fortissimum
Signum, quod in vigore perpetim manens,
Credentibus salvationem conferat.
Arundo, clavi, sputa, potus myrrheus,
Corona spinarum, flagella, lancea,
Impressa sunt damnationis verbera:
Jam nostra pro his cuncta dele crimina.
Fons vulneris sacri riget præcordia,
Lavet cruor malitiæque contagia:
Sit vita præsens absque omni crimine:
Futura detur in beato munere.
Ut cum resurgendi dies effulserit,
Orbique regni claritas illuxerit,
Sequamur ætheris viam quæ nos trahat
In se receptos jam perennes incolas.
Honor sit æterno Deo, sit gloria
Uni Patri, ejusque soli Filio
Cum Spiritu; quæ Trinitas perenniter
Vivit potens in sæculorum sæculis.
Amen.
O Word of the Father, that camest into this world, and wast made Flesh! O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world!
to thee do we come, and, in prostrate adoration, beseech thee to give us
to drink of the Blood shed for us in thy sacred Passion.
Show unto us the marks of thy divine wounds!
Let the invincible standard of thy glorious cross be raised on high,
and, by its imperishable power,
bring salvation to them that believe.
The reed, the nails, the spittle, the gall,
the crown of thorns, the whips, the spear
—these were the instruments of thy sufferings:
oh! cleanse us by them from all our sins.
May the Blood that gushed from thy sacred Wounds,
flow on our hearts and purify them from their stains of guilt,
enable us to pass through this world without sin,
and give us, in the next, the reward of bliss.
That when the resurrection day shall break upon the world,
brightening it with the splendours of the eternal kingdom,
we may ascend by the path that leads above,
and dwell in heaven, citizens eternal.
Honour be to the eternal God! Glory be
to the one Father, and to his only Son,
together with the Holy Ghost: the almighty Trinity,
that liveth unceasingly for ever and ever.
Amen.
Let us again borrow from the Greek Church the expression of our devotion to the holy cross.
Hymn
(Feria V. mediæ Septimanæ)
Securis quam Elisæus ex Jordane retulit, crucem significabat, qua ex profundo vanitatis retraxisti gentes lætis vocibus cantantes: Benedictus es, Deus patrum nostrorum.
Lætantur cum terra, cœlestia ob adorationem crucis tuæ; etenim per te angeli et homines conjuncti sunt, clamantes: Benedictus Dominus Deus noster.
Compassionem tamquam cupressum suaveolentem, fidem tamquam cedrum, veram charitatem tamquam pinum afferentes,[2] Domini crucem adoremus, glorificantes eum qui in illa affixus est, liberatorem.
Extendisti manus tuas in ligno, incontinentis manus peccatum dissolvens; lancea vulneratus es, eademque inimicum sauciasti. Fel gustasti, et male blandam malitiam exemisti; aceto potatus es, qui omnium lætitia es.
Ligno peccati interemptus sum, guetuque voluptuoso morti traditus. Vivifica me, Domine. Excita jacentem: fac me cruciatuum tuorum adoratorem, et participem divinæ resurrectionis, et cohæredem eorum qui te diligunt.
Gaudii signum, armatura invicta, apostolorum decus, pontificum robur, vires suffice languenti animæ meæ, et dignare me ut te adorem, laudesque tibi decantem, damans: Omnia opera Domini, laudate Dominum et superexaltate in sæcula.
The wood wherewith Eliseus drew the axe from the Jordan, was a figure of thy cross, O Jesus! wherewith thou didst draw, from the depths of their vanities, the nations that thus sing to thee in joy: Blessed art thou the God of our Fathers!
The heavens rejoice together with the earth, as we venerate thy cross; for it is by thee that angels and men are united and sing: Blessed is the Lord our God!
Venerating the cross of our Lord, and venerating our Redeemer, who was nailed upon it, let us present him a threefold homage:[2] our compassion, like the fragrant cypress; our faith, like the cedar; our love, like the pine.
Thou didst stretch forth thy hands upon the cross, to show that ’twas thou didst destroy the sin done by the hand of licentious man. Thou wast wounded with the spear, that thou mightest wound our foe. Thou didst taste gall, that thou mightest turn evil pleasures from us. Thy drink was vinegar, that thou mightest be a joy to each of us.
I have eaten of the tree of sin, and it was my ruin; I have tasted a pleasure that has caused me death. Bring me to life, O Lord! Raise me from my fall. Make me an adorer of thy sufferings, a partner in thy Resurrection, a coheir of them that love thee.
O cross! thou standard of joy, thou armour invulnerable, thou glory of the apostles, thou strength of pontiffs: supply my languid soul with power, and oh! may I venerate thee, and thus cry out thy praises: ‘All ye works of the Lord, praise the Lord, and extol him, above all, for ever!'
[1] St. Mark xvi. 9.
[2] This is an allusion to the tradition, that the cross was formed of the three kinds of wood here mentioned. (Translator.)