SATURDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT – MASS PROPERS

by Catholic4Life

STATION AT SS. MARCELLINUS AND PETER

(Indulgence of 10 years and 10 quarantines)

SATURDAY

IN THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT

Violet vestments

Missa ‘Lex Domini’

The Station is in the church of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, two celebrated martyrs of Rome under the persecution of Diocletian. Their names are inserted in the Canon of the Mass.

Commentary from The Liturgical Year – Abbot Dom Guéranger

INTROIT

Psalm 18:8, 2

Lex Dómini irreprehensíbilis, convértens ánimas: testimónium Dómini fidéle, sapiéntiam præstans párvulis. Ps 18:2. Coeli enárrant glóriam Dei: et ópera mánuum ejus annúntiat firmaméntum. Glória Patri.

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. Ps. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. Glory be to the Father.

COLLECT

Grant that our fasting may be beneficial to us, we beseech You, O Lord, so that by chastising our flesh we may obtain strength for our souls. Through our Lord.

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

Defend us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, from all dangers of mind and body: and through the intercession of the blessed and glorious Mary, ever Virgin, mother of God, of Saint Joseph, of Thy holy apostles, Saints Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, in Thy loving-kindness grant us safety and peace; that, all adversities and errors being overcome, Thy Church may serve Thee in security and freedom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost.

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

O Almighty and Eternal God, Who hast dominion over both the living and the dead, and hast mercy on all Whom Thou knowest shall be Thine by faith and good works: we humbly beseech Thee that all for whom we have resolved to make supplication whether the present world still holds them in the flesh, or the world to come has already received them out of the body, may, through the intercession of all Thy saints, obtain of Thy goodness and clemency pardon for all their sins, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost; One God; forever and ever, Amen.

EPISTLE

Genesis 27:6-40

In those days, Rebecca said to her son Jacob: I heard your father tell your brother Esau: Bring me some game; prepare some savoury food for me to eat, and then I will bless you in the sight of the Lord before I die. Now, my son, do what I tell you. Go to the flock and bring me two choice kids that I may make of them savoury food for your father, such as he likes. Then bring it to your father to eat, that he may bless you before he dies. Jacob said to his mother Rebecca: But Esau my brother is a hairy man, while I am smooth. If my father touches me, it will seem to him that I am mocking him. Thus I shall bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing. His mother replied: Let the curse fall on me, my son! Do but listen to me; go, get them for me. He went, selected them, and brought them to his mother, who prepared savoury food such as his father liked. Then Rebecca took the best clothes of her elder son Esau, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She put the skins of the kids on his hands and over the smooth parts of his neck. Then she gave her son Jacob the savoury food and bread she had prepared. He went to his father and said: Father! He answered: Here I am. Who are you, my son? And Jacob said to his father: I am Esau, your first-born. I have done as you told me; sit up, please! Eat again of my game, that you may bless me. Isaac replied: How did you find it so quickly, my son? He answered: The Lord your God let me come upon it. Then Isaac said to Jacob: Come close that I may touch you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not. Jacob went close to his father. Isaac touched him and said: The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. – Isaac said: Are you really my son Esau? Jacob answered: Yes, I am. Isaac continued: Set your game near me, my son, that I may eat it, and bless you. He set it before him and he ate of it, and he brought him some wine, which he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him: Come close and kiss me, my son. He came close and kissed him. When he smelled the fragrance of his garments, he blessed him and said: The fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field which the Lord has blessed! God give you dew from heaven, and fruitfulness of the earth, abundance of grain and wine. Let nations serve you, peoples bow down to you. Be master of your brothers; may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, blessed be those who bless you. Isaac had pronounced the blessing and Jacob had just left his father’s presence, when his brother Esau returned from hunting. He also prepared savoury food and brought it to his father, saying: Sit up, father, and eat of your son’s game, that you may bless me. His father Isaac said to him: Who are you? He answered: I am Esau, your first-born son. Isaac was greatly disturbed, and asked: Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? Before you came I ate heartily and then blessed him; and he shall be blessed. On hearing his father’s words, Esau uttered a very loud and bitter cry, and said to him: Father, bless me too. But he answered: Your brother came deceitfully and received your blessing. Then he said: Must he, true to his name Jacob, supplant me now a second time? He took my birthright and now he has taken my blessing. He added: Have you not reserved a blessing for me? Isaac answered Esau: I have appointed him your lord, and have given him all his brothers as servants. I have enriched him with grain and wine; what then can I do for you, my son? But Esau said to his father: Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me also, my father. And Esau wept aloud. His father Isaac answered him: Without the fruitfulness of the earth shall your dwelling be; without the dew of the heavens above.

The two sons of Isaac are another illustration of God’s judgments upon Israel, and His vocation of the Gentiles. The instruction contained in this passage from Genesis was intended for the catechumens. Here we have two brothers, Esau the elder, and Jacob the younger; Esau represents the Jewish people; he is his father’s heir, and, as such, he has a glorious future before him. Jacob, though twin-brother to Esau, is the second-born, and has no right to the special blessing which Esau claimed; he is the ﬁgure of the Gentiles. How, then, is it that Jacob receives the blessing and not Esau? The sacred volume tells us that Esau is a carnal-minded man.

Rather than deny himself the momentary gratiﬁcation of his appetite, he sacriﬁces the spiritual advantages which his father’s blessing is to bring him; he sells his birth right to Jacob for a mess of pottage. We know the mother’s plan for securing Jacob’s claim; and how the aged father is, unsuspectingly, the instrument in God’s hands, ratifying and blessing this substitution, of which he himself has no knowledge. Esau, having returned home, is made aware of the greatness of his loss; but it is too late, and he becomes an enemy to his brother. The same thing happens with the Jewish people; they are carnal-minded and lose their birthright, their pre-eminence over the Gentiles. They refuse to acknowledge a Messias who is poor and persecuted; their ambition is for earthly triumph and earthly greatness; and the only kingdom that Jesus holds out to His followers is a spiritual one. The Jews, then, reject this Messias; but the Gentiles receive Him, and they become the ﬁrst-born, the favoured people. And, whereas the Jews repudiate this substitution (to which, however, they assented, when they said to Pilate: ‘We will not have this Man to reign over us’), they are indignant at seeing the heavenly Father bestowing all His love and blessings on the Christian people. They that are children of Abraham according to the ﬂesh are disinherited; and they that are the children of Abraham by faith alone are evidently the children of the promise; according to those words of the Lord, which He spoke to that great patriarch: ‘I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea-shore. . . . In thy seed (that is, in Him who is to be born of thy race) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.’

GRADUAL

Psalm 91:2-3

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise to Your name, Most High. V. To proclaim Your kindness at dawn and Your faithfulness throughout the night.

The Return of the Prodigal Son, detail 1773, Pompeo Batoni

GOSPEL

Luke 15:11-32

At that time, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and Scribes this parable: A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me. And he divided his means between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered up all his wealth, and took his journey into a far country; and there he squandered his fortune in loose living. And after he had spent all, there came a grievous famine over that country, and he began himself to suffer want. And he went and joined one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his farm to feed swine. And he longed to fill himself with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one offered to give them to him. But when he came to himself, he said: How many hired men in my father’s house have bread in abundance, while I am perishing here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men. And he arose and went to his father. But while he was yet a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants: Fetch quickly the best robe and put it on him, and give him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet; and bring out the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; because this my son was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And calling one of the servants he inquired what this meant. And he said to him: Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has got him back safe. But he was angered and would not go in. His father, therefore, came out and began to entreat him. But he answered and said to his father: Behold, these many years I have been serving you, and have never transgressed one of your commands; and yet you have never given me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But when this your son comes, who has devoured his means with harlots, you have killed for him the fattened calf. But he said to him: Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours; but we were bound to make merry and rejoice, for this your brother was dead, and has come to life; he was lost, and is found.

The mystery brought before us in the Epistle is repeated in our Gospel. Again it is the history of two brothers; the elder is angry at seeing his father show mercy to the younger. This younger brother has gone abroad into a far country; he has quitted his father’s house, that he might be under no control, and indulge in every kind of disorder. But when a mighty famine came, and he was perishing with hunger, he remembered that he had a father; and, at once, he arose, and humbly besought his father to receive him, and give him the last place in that house, which, but for his own folly, might have been all his own. The father received the prodigal with the tenderest affection; not only did he pardon him, he restored him to all his family rights; nay, he would have a feast kept in honour of this happy return. The elder brother, hearing what the father had done, was indignant, and conceived the bitterest jealousy against his younger brother. Let the Jews be jealous, if they will; let them be indignant with their God for showing His mercy to any but themselves. The time has come when all the nations of the earth are to be called to the one fold. The Gentiles, notwithstanding all the misery into which their errors and their passions had led them, are to receive the preaching of the apostles. Greeks and Romans, Scythians and barbarians, are to come, humbly acknowledging the evil of their ways, and ask to share in the favours offered to Israel. Not only are they to be allowed to eat of the crumbs that fall from the table, which was all the poor woman of Chanaan dared to hope for; they are to be made sons and heirs of the Father, with all the attendant rights and privileges. Israel will be jealous, and will protest; but to no purpose. He will refuse to take part in the feast; it matters not, the feast is to be. This feast is the Pasch. The prodigals that have come, starved and naked, to the Father’s house, are our catechumens, on whom God is about to bestow the grace of adoption.

But there are also the public penitents, who are being prepared by the Church for reconciliation; they, too, are the prodigals, who come seeking mercy from their offended Father. This Gospel was intended for them as well as for the catechumens. But now that the Church has relaxed her severe discipline, she offers this parable to all those who are in the state of sin, and are preparing to make their peace with God. They know not, as yet, how good is the God from whom they have strayed by sin: let them read today’s Gospel, and see how mercy exalteth itself above judgment, in that God, who so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son. How far soever they may have gone astray, or how great soever may have been their ingratitude, let them take courage; a feast is being prepared in their Father’s house, to welcome them home again. The loving Father is waiting at the door to receive and embrace them; the ﬁrst robe, the robe of innocence, is to be restored to them; the ring, which they alone wear that are of God’s family, is to be once more placed on their hand. There is a banquet being prepared for them, at which the angels, out of joy, will sing their glad songs. Let these poor sinners, then, cry out with a contrite heart: Father! I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee; I am not now worthy to be called Thy son: make me as one of Thy hired servants. This tender-hearted Father asks only this much of them: sincere sorrow for their sins, humble confession, and a ﬁrm resolution of being faithful for the time to come. Let them accept these easy terms, and He will receive them, once more, as His dearest children.

OFFERTORY

Psalm 12:4-5

Give light to my eyes that I may not sleep in death lest my enemy say, I have overcome him.

SECRET

Appeased by these sacrificial gifts, O Lord, grant that we who pray for absolution from our own sins may not be burdened by those which are foreign to us. Through our Lord.

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

Graciously hear us, O God our Saviour, and, by virtue of this Sacrament, defend us from all enemies of soul and body, bestowing upon us Thy grace here and Thy glory hereafter. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever.

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

O Almighty and Eternal God, O God, Who alone knowest the number of the elect to be admitted to the happiness of Heaven, grant, we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of all Thy saints, the names of all who have been recommended to our prayers and of all the faithful, may be inscribed in the book of blessed predestination. Protect us, O Lord, who assist at Thy mysteries; that, fixed upon things divine we may serve Thee in both body and mind, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost; One God; forever and ever, Amen.

PREFACE FOR LENT

It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God. Who by the fasting of the body dost curb our vices, elevate our minds and bestow virtue and reward; through Christ our Lord. Through whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the dominions worship it, and the powers stand in awe. The heavens and the heavenly hosts, with the blessed seraphim join together in celebrating their joy. With these we pray Thee join our voices also, while we say with lowly praise:

COMMUNION

Luke 15:32

You ought to rejoice, my son, for your brother was dead, and has come to life; he was lost, and is found.

POSTCOMMUNION

May the sacrament of which we have partaken, O Lord, penetrate the depths of our hearts and make us share in its strength. Through our Lord.

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

May the oblation of this divine sacrament which we have offered, cleanse us and defend us, we beseech Thee, O Lord; and through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, of St. Joseph, of Thy holy apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, free us from all iniquity and deliver us from all adversity. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever.

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

May the sacraments which we have received purify us, we beseech Thee, O almighty and merciful Lord; and through the intercession of all Thy saints, grant that this Thy sacrament may not be unto us a condemnation, but a salutary intercession for pardon; may it be the washing away of sin, the strength of the weak, a protection against all dangers of the world, and a remission of all the sins of the faithful, whether living or dead, through our Lord.

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE

Bow down your heads to God.

Protect, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy family, by thy continual goodness, that as it relieth on the hopes of thy heavenly grace, so it may be defended by thy heavenly aid. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

This being Saturday, let us have recourse to Mary the Queen of mercy. Let us address ourselves to her in these devout words of a sequence, taken from the ancient Cluny missals. This is our request: that she would obtain for us the pardon of our sins.

SEQUENCE

Hail, fair star! that yieldest a ray of new light, whereby is blotted out the shame of our race. O thou the singular hope of man! O thou our refuge! Appease thy Son, at the hour of our judgment.

Thou art the ﬂowery rod of Jesse: thou art the true ﬁrst spring-ﬂower, bringing us our Jesus. O ever blooming rose! there is not a stain upon thee, and thy Fruit taketh our stains away. Thy virginal womb is the fount of the garden, the source of him that is the water of life.

Yea, thou art the golden throne, whereon the King of heaven crowned his Son. The palace of sweet perfumes, formed with exquisite skill by the hand of the great Artiﬁcer; Wherein Jesus, having put on the garment of our ﬂesh, was consecrated High Priest.

Thou art the fount that givest forth oil, yea, a dew sweet as honey; for thou art all love. Hence came to us the font that washeth away the bitterness and the stains of sin.

O Mother! whose heart was pierced by the wounds of thy suffering Son. Show us a Mother’s care and love; and when the dread judgment comes, deliver us from punishment. Amen.

26Feb2016

FRIDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT – MASS PROPERS

by Catholic4Life

STATION AT ST. VITALIS

(Indulgence of 10 years and 10 quarantines)

FRIDAY

OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT

The Station for today is in the church of Saint Vitalis, martyr, the father of the two illustrious Milanese martyrs, Saints Gervasius and Protasius.

Violet vestments

Commentary by Abbot Dom Guéranger

INTROIT

Psalm 16:15

Ego autem cum justítia apparébo in conspéctu tuo: satiábor, dum manifestábitur glória tua. Ps 16:1. Exáudi, Dómine, justitiam meam: inténde deprecatióni meæ. Glória Patri.

But I in justice shall behold Your face; I shall be content when Your glory shall appear. Ps. Hear, O Lord, my justice; attend to my cry. Glory be to the Father.

COLLECT

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that cleansed with the sacred fast: we may with sincere hearts reach the coming feast. Through our Lord.

Joseph’s Coat Brought to Jacob by Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari, c. 1640

EPISTLE

Lesson from the Book of Genesis

Genesis 37:6-22

In those days, Joseph said to his brothers: Listen to this dream which I had. We were binding sheaves in the field; my sheaf rose up and remained standing, while your sheaves gathered round and bowed down to my sheaf. His brothers answered: Are you to be our king? Are you to rule over us? And because of his dreams and words they hated him the more. He had another dream which he also told to his brothers. I had another dream, he said. The sun, the moon and eleven stars were worshipping me. When he told that to his father and his brothers, his father reproved him. What is this dream that you have had? he said. Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers will come to bow to the ground before you? So his brothers envied him, while his father pondered the matter. When his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Sichem, Israel said to Joseph: Your brothers are pasturing the flocks at Sichem; get ready, I will send you to them. Joseph answered: I am ready. Go, then, said Israel, and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks; and bring back a report to me. So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Sichem. A man found Joseph wandering about in the fields and asked him: What are you looking for? I am looking for my brothers, he answered. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing. The man said: They have moved on from here, because I heard them say: Let us go to Dothain. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothain. They saw him in the distance, and before he drew near them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another: Here comes that dreamer! Let us therefore kill him and throw him into a cistern; we can say that a wild beast devoured him. Let us see then what becomes of his dreams. But when Ruben heard of it, he tried to rescue him from them saying: We must not kill him. Then he continued: Do not shed blood. Throw him into the cistern there in the desert, but do not lay a hand on him. His purpose was to rescue him from them and restore him to his father.

Today the Church reminds us of the apostasy of the Jewish nation, and of the consequent vocation of the Gentiles. This instruction was intended for the catechumens; let us, also, proﬁt by it. The history here related from the old Testament is a ﬁgure of what we read in today’s Gospel. Joseph is exceedingly beloved by his father Jacob, not only because he is the child of his favourite spouse Rachel, but also because of his innocence. Prophetic dreams have announced the future glory of this child: but he has brothers; and these brothers, urged on by jealousy, are determined to destroy him. Their wicked purpose is not carried out to the full; but it succeeds at least this far, that Joseph will never more see his native country. He is sold to some merchants. Shortly afterwards, he is cast into prison; but he is soon set free, and is made the ruler, not of the land of Chanaan that had exiled him, but of a pagan country, Egypt. He saves these poor Gentiles from starvation, during a most terrible famine, nay, he gives them abundance of food, and they are happy under his government. His very brothers, who persecuted him, are obliged to come down into Egypt, and ask food and pardon from their victim. We easily recognize in this wonderful history our divine Redeemer, Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary. He was the victim of His own people’s jealousy, who refused to acknowledge in Him the Messias foretold by the prophets, although their prophecies were so evidently fulﬁlled in Him. Like Joseph, Jesus is the object of a deadly conspiracy; like Joseph, He is sold. He traverses the shadow of death, but only to rise again, full of glory and power. But it is no longer on Israel that He lavishes the proofs of His predilection; He turns to the Gentiles, and with them He henceforth dwells. It is to the Gentiles that the remnant of Israel will come seeking Him, when, pressed by hunger after the truth, they are willing to acknowledge, as the true Messias, this Jesus of Nazareth, their King, whom they cruciﬁed.

GRADUAL

Psalm 119:1-2

In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. V. O Lord, deliver me from lying lip, from a treacherous tongue.

TRACT

Psalm 102:10; 78: 8, 9

O Lord, deal with us not according to our sins, nor requite us according to our crimes. Ps. O Lord, remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may Your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low. [Kneel.] V. Help us, O God, our Saviour, because of the glory of Your Name, O Lord; deliver us and pardon our sins for Your Name’s sake.

GOSPEL

Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew

Matthew 21:33-46

At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to the multitude of the Jews and the chief priests: There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and put a hedge about it, and dug a wine vat in it, and built a tower; then he let it out to vine-dressers, and went abroad. But when the fruit season drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers to receive his fruits. And the vinedressers seized his servants, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent another party of servants more numerous than the first; and they did the same to these. Finally he sent his son to them, saying: They will respect my son. But the vine-dressers, on seeing the son, said among themselves: This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance. So they seized him, cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When, therefore, the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-dressers? They said to Him: He will utterly destroy those evil men, and will let out the vineyard to other vine-dressers, who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them: Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone; by the Lord this has been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people yielding its fruits. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but upon whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they knew that He was speaking about them. And though they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the people, because they regarded Him as a prophet.

Here we have more than the mere ﬁgures of the old Law, which show us our Redeemer in the far distant future; we have the great reality. Yet a little while, and the thrice holy Victim will have fallen beneath the blows of His persecutors. How awful and solemn are the words of Jesus, as His last hour approaches! His enemies feel the full weight of what He says; but, in their pride, they are determined to keep up their opposition to Him, who is the Wisdom of the Father. They have made up their minds not to acknowledge Him to be what they well know He is—the stone, on which he that falls shall be broken, and which shall grind to powder him on whom it shall fall. But what is the vineyard, of which our Lord here speaks? It is revealed truth; it is the rule of faith and morals; it is the universal expectation of the promised Redeemer; and, lastly, it is the family of the children of God, His inheritance, His Church. God had chosen the Synagogue as the depository of such a treasure; He willed that His vineyard should be carefully kept, that it should yield fruit under their keeping, and that they should always look upon it as His possession, and one that was most dear to Him. But, in its hard-heartedness and avarice, the Synagogue appropriated the Lord’s vineyard to itself. In vain did He, at various times, send His prophets to reclaim His rights; the faithless husbandmen put them to death. The Son of God, the Heir, comes in Person. Surely, they will receive Him with due respect, and pay Him the homage due to His divine character! But no; they have formed a plot against Him; they intend to cast Him forth out of the vineyard, and kill Him. Come, then, ye Gentiles, and. avenge this God! Leave not a stone on a stone of the guilty city that has uttered this terrible curse: ‘May His Blood be upon us and upon our children!’ But you shall be more than the ministers of the divine justice; you yourselves are now the favoured people of God. The apostasy of these ungrateful Jews is the beginning of your salvation. You are to be keepers of the vineyard to the end of time; you are to feed on its fruits, for they now belong to you. From east and west, from north and south, come to the great Pasch, that is being prepared! Come to the font of salvation, O ye new people, who are gathered unto God from all nations under the sun! Your mother the Church will ﬁll up from you, if you be faithful, the number of the elect; and when her work is done, her Spouse will return, as the dread Judge, to condemn those who would not know the time of their visitation.

OFFERTORY

Psalm 39:14, 15

Deign, O Lord, to rescue me; let all be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life. Deign, O Lord, to rescue me.

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE

Bow down your heads to God.

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to thy people health both of soul and body, that by the continual practice of good works they may always be defended by thy powerful protection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us encourage within ourselves the spirit of humility and penance by the following hymn, which we take from the Greek liturgy. It was composed by St. Andrew of Crete.

HYMN

(Feria V. quintae hebdomadae)

I would mourn over the sins of my wretched life; but where shall I begin? O Jesus! how shall I commence the lamentation I fain would make this day ‘I Do thou, my merciful God, forgive me my sins.

Come, my poor soul and thou, too, my body, come, and confess to the great Creator; and, henceforth, restrain your senseless passions, and ‘offer to God the tears of repentance.

I have imitated my ﬁrst parent in his sin; I acknowledge my nakedness, for I have lost my God, and the kingdom and the joys of eternity.

Alas, unhappy soul! wherefore hast thou made thyself like unto Eve! Oh that guilty look! Oh that cruel wound! Thou didst stretch forth thy hand to the tree; and, in thy frowardness, didst eat the forbidden fruit.

Adam was deservedly driven out of paradise, because he broke one of thy commandments. O my Saviour! I, then, who am forever setting thy life giving words at deﬁance, what punishment shall I not have?

Now is the time for repentance. I come to thee, O my Creator! Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy’s sake, pardon me my crimes. Despise me not, my Saviour!

Cast me not away from thy face. Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy’s sake, pardon me my crimes. Do thou, my Saviour, and my merciful God, pardon me my sins, deliberate or indeliberate, public or private, known or unknown. Have mercy on me, and save me!

24Feb2016

What’s so funny about an extremely distinguished dead judge, Mr President? Obastard jokes about Scalia’s death!!

by Catholic4Life

Fury at Obama’s gloating joke about replacing Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court that had a room full of governors laughing!

President Obama made a crack yesterday about ‘appointing judges’ in front of the National Governors Association – a joke about Scalia’s death
Conservatives took to the internet to condemn the president’s remark, which they viewed as ‘classless’ and ‘sick’
One legal expert, however, claimed the joke was about the process of appointing the next justice and not aimed directly at Scalia

Conservatives expressed fury today that President Obama joked about the death of Anontin Scalia, the Supreme Court justice

Addressing the National Governors Association at the White House yesterday, Obama talked about some of the downsides of being a lame duck.

‘Some of you might be in the final year of your last term,’ working as hard as you can to get as much done as possible for the folks that you represent: fixing roads, educating our children, helping people retrain, appointing judges,’ Obama uttered, adding a dramatic pause. ‘The usual stuff.’

Scroll down for video

The pause was filled with laughter coming from the governors sitting in the room.

Once conservatives caught wind of the joke they pointed to it calling President Obama ‘classless‘ and ‘sick.’ Red State, the conservative website, described the president’s joke as ‘zero respect’. The video adds salt to the wound that Obama opened by not attending the late justice’s funeral on Saturday.

Video: Obama’s Scalia Death Joke Angers America

Vice President Joe Biden attended the funeral instead of the commander-in-chief, who went to the Supreme Court on Friday to pay his respects. The White House explained to the New York Times that the decision was partially based on the ‘potential for the extensive presidential security detail to be disruptive’.

Instead he was pictured on Friday with a binder of background reports on potential nominees – before Scalia was even buried.

The president also didn’t do himself any favors when reporters found out that he was golfing on Sunday, a favorite leisure activity of the president’s that generally gets him in trouble with conservatives.

The decision not to go to the funeral had been criticized by members of the Italian-American community. Justice Scalia was the first Italian-American on the Supreme Court when he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. Philip Fogalia, the vice president of the Italian-American museum, said Italian-Americans take paying respects at funerals ‘very seriously’. ‘Justice Scalia was a milestone for the community,’ he told the New York Post. ‘The president’s absence was disappointing and ill-advised.’

Legal expert Eugene Volokh, writing for the Washington Post, suggested that the joke wasn’t aimed at Scalia, but instead the rather painful process of trying to get a Supreme Court pick through the U.S. Senate – as evidenced by today’s news that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would be holding no hearing, nor a vote, on Obama’s SCOTUS pick.

‘This strikes me as not at all in bad taste,’ Volokh, a UCLA School of Law professor, wrote. ‘The president wasn’t saying anything snide or even critical about the late justice, or mocking the justice’s views or accomplishments (which would indeed have been bad manners, in one government official publicly speaking about another who had recently died).’

‘He was engaging in some mild graveyard humor about an upcoming unpleasant political process,’ Volokh continued. ‘And that the process was occasioned by someone’s death (more than a week earlier) doesn’t make such humor inappropriate,’ Volokh added.

Source

21Feb2016

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT – MASS PROPERS

by Catholic4Life

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

Commentary by Abbot Dom Guéranger

This is my beloved Son…hear ye him.

The subject offered to our consideration, on this Second Sunday, is one of the utmost importance for the holy Season. The Church applies to us the lesson which our Saviour gave to three of his Apostles. Let us endeavour to be more attentive to it than they were.

Jesus was about to pass from Galilee into Judea, that he might go up to Jerusalem, and be present at the Feast of the Pasch. It was that last Pasch, which was to begin with the immolation of the figurative lamb, and end with the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. Jesus would have his disciples know him. His works had borne testimony to him, even to those who were, in a manner, strangers to him; but as for his Disciples, had they not every reason to be faithful to him, even to death? Had they not listened to his words, which had such power with them, that they forced conviction? Had they not experienced his love, which it was impossible to resist? and had they not seen how patiently he had borne with their strange and untoward ways? Yes, they must have known him. They had heard one of their company, Peter, declare that he was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Notwithstanding this, the trial to which their faith was soon to be put, was to be of such a terrible kind, that Jesus would mercifully arm them against temptation by an extraordinary grace.

The Cross was to be a scandal and stumbling block to the Synagogue, and, alas! to more than it. Jesus said to his Apostles, at the Last Supper: All of you shall be scandalized in me this night. Carnal-minded as they then were, what would they think, when they should see him seized by armed men, handcuffed, hurried from one tribunal to another, and he doing nothing to defend himself! And when they found, that the High Priests and Pharisees, who had hitherto been so often foiled by the wisdom and miracles of Jesus, had now succeeded in their conspiracy against him, — what a shock to their confidence! But, there was to be something more trying still: the people, who, but a few days before, greeted him so enthusiastically with their hosannas, would demand his execution, and he would have to die, – between two thieves, on the Cross, amidst the insults of his triumphant enemies.

Is it not to be feared that these Disciples of his, when they witness his humiliations and sufferings, will lose their courage? They have lived in his company for three years; but when they see, that the things he foretold would happen to him are really fulfilled, — will the remembrance of all they have seen and heard, keep them loyal to him? or will they turn cowards and flee from him? — Jesus selects three out of the number, who are especially dear to him.

Peter, whom he has made the Rock, on which his Church is to be built, and to whom he has promised the Keys of the kingdom of heaven; James, the son of Thunder, who is to be the first Martyr of the Apostolic College; and John, James’ brother, and his own Beloved Disciple. Jesus has resolved to take them aside, and show them a glimpse of that glory, which, until the day fixed for its manifestation, he conceals from the eyes of mortals.

He therefore leaves the rest of his Disciples in the plain near Nazareth, and goes, in company with the three privileged ones, towards a high hill, called Thabor, which is a continuation of Libanus, and which the Psalmist tells us was to rejoice in the Name of the Lord. No sooner has he reached the summit of the mountain, than the three Apostles observe a sudden change come over him; his Face shines as the sun, and his humble garments become white as snow. They observe two venerable men approach, and speak with him upon what he was about to suffer in Jerusalem. One is Moses, the lawgiver; the other is Elias, the Prophet, who was taken up from earth on a fiery chariot, without having passed through the gates of death. These two great representatives of the Jewish Religion, the Law and the Prophets, humbly adore Jesus of Nazareth. The three Apostles are not only dazzled by the brightness which comes from their Divine Master; but they are filled with such a rapture of delight, that they cannot bear the thought of leaving the place. Peter proposes to remain there for ever, and build three tabernacles, for Jesus, Moses and Elias. And whilst they are admiring the glorious sight, and gazing on the beauty of their Jesus’ human Nature, a bright cloud overshadows them, and a voice is heard speaking to them: it is the voice of the Eternal Father, proclaiming the Divinity of Jesus, and saying: This is my beloved Son!

This transfiguration of the Son of Man, this manifestation of his glory, lasted but a few moments; his mission was not on Thabor; it was humiliation and suffering in Jerusalem. He therefore withdrew into himself the brightness he had allowed to transpire; and when he came to the three Apostles, who, on hearing the voice from the cloud, had fallen on their faces with fear, — they could see no one save only Jesus. The bright cloud was gone; Moses and Elias had disappeared. What a favour they have had bestowed upon them! Will they remember what they have seen and heard? They have had such a revelation of the Divinity of their dear Master! — is it possible, that when the hour of trial comes, they will forget it, and doubt his being God? and, when they see him suffer and die, be ashamed of him and deny him? Alas! the Gospel has told us what happened to them.

A short time after this, our Lord celebrated his Last Supper with his Disciples. When the Supper was over, he took them to another mount, Mount Olivet, which lies to the east of Jerusalem. Leaving the rest at the entrance of the Garden, he advances with Peter, James, and John, and then says to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here, and watch with me. He then retires some little distance from them, and prays to his Eternal Father. The Heart of our Redeemer is weighed down with anguish. When he returns to his three Disciples, he is enfeebled by the Agony he has suffered, and his garments are saturated with Blood. The Apostles are aware that he is sad even unto death, and that the hour is close at hand when he is to be attacked: are they keeping watch? are they ready to defend him? No: they seem to have forgotten him; they are fast asleep, for their eyes are heavy. Yet a few moments, and all will have fled from him; and Peter, the bravest of them all, will be taking his oath that he never knew the Man.

After the Resurrection, our three Apostles made ample atonement for this cowardly and sinful conduct, and acknowledged the mercy wherewith Jesus had sought to fortify them against temptation, by showing them his glory on Thabor, a few days before his Passion. Let us not wait till we have betrayed him: let us at once acknowledge that he is our Lord and our God. We are soon to be keeping the anniversary of his Sacrifice; like the Apostles, we are to see him humbled by his enemies and bearing, in our stead, the chastisements of Divine Justice. We must not allow our faith to be weakened, when we behold the fulfillment of those prophecies of David and Isaias, that the Messias is to be treated as a worm of the earth, and be covered with wounds, so as to become like a leper, the most abject of men, and the Man of sorrows. We must remember the grand things of Thabor, and the adorations paid him by Moses and Elias, and the bright cloud, and the voice of the Eternal Father. The more we see him humbled, the more must we proclaim his glory and divinity; we must join our acclamations with those of the Angels and the Four-and-Twenty Elders, whom St. John, (one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration,) heard crying out with a loud voice: The Lamb that was slain, is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction!

MASS

Dominica Secunda in Quadragesima

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

This is my beloved Son… hear ye him

STATION AT ST. MARY’S IN DOMINICA

(Indulgence of 10 years and 10 quarantines)

Semi-double – Privilege of the First Class

Violet vestments

Missa ‘Reminiscere’

INTROIT – Psalm 24: 6, 3, 22

Reminiscere miseratiónum tuárum, Dómine, et misericórdiæ tuæ, quæ a sǽculo sunt: ne umquam dominéntur nobis inimíci nostri: líbera nos, Deus Israël, ex omnibus angústiis nostris. Ps. 24: 1-2. Ad te, Dómine, levávi ánimam meam, Deus meus, in te confído, non erubéscam. V. Glória Patri.

Remember, O Lord, Thy bowels of compassion, and Thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world, lest at any time our enemies rule over us: deliver us, O God of Israel, from all our tribulations. Ps. To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed V. Glory be to the Father.

In the Collect, we beg of God to watch over us in all our necessities, both of body and soul. If our prayer be humble and earnest, it will be granted. God will provide for us in our corporal necessities, and will defend our souls against the suggestions of our enemy, who strives to sully even our thoughts.

COLLECT

O God, who seest that we have no power whatever from ourselves; keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts which may hurt the soul. Through our Lord.

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

EPISTLE -1 Thessalonians 4: 1-7

Brethren: We pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus that, as you have received from us, now you ought to walk and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more. For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles that know not God: and that no man overreach nor circumvent his brother in business: because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, as we have told you before and have testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification: in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here the Apostle shows what manner of life should be followed by Christians; and the Church, by repeating his words, exhorts the Faithful to profit of the present Season of grace, and regain all the beauty of the image of God, which the grace of Baptism first gave them. A Christian is a vessel of honour, formed and enriched by the hand of God; let him, therefore, shun whatsoever would degrade his noble origin, and turn him into a vessel of dishonor, fit only to be broken and cast with the unclean into the sink of hell. The Christian Religion has so far ennobled man, that even his very body may share in the soul’s sanctity; on the other hand, she teaches us, that this sanctity of the soul is impaired, yea, altogether effaced, by the loss of the body’s purity. The whole man, therefore, both body and soul, is to be reformed by the practices of this holy Season. Let us purify the soul by the confession of our sins, by compunction of heart, by the love of God; and let us give back its dignity to the Body, by making it bear the yoke of penance, that so it may be, henceforth, subservient and docile to the Soul, and, on the day of the general Resurrection, partake in her endless bliss.

In the Gradual, man cries out to his God to de liver him from the evils that threaten him, and give him victory over the invisible enemy, who so cruelly humbles and insults him.

GRADUAL – Psalm 24: 17-18

The troubles of my heart are multiplied: deliver me from my necessities, O Lord. V. See my abjection and my labour, and forgive me all my sins.

The Tract is both a canticle of confidence in the divine mercy, and a prayer addressed by the Church to her Saviour, beseeching him to visit and save her faithful children on the great Feast, which is still so far off, but towards which each day brings us nearer.

TRACT – Psalm 105: 1-4

Give glory to the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever. V. Who shall declare the powers of the Lord: who shall set forth all His praises? V. Blessed are they that keep judgment and do justice at all times. V. Remember us, O Lord, in the favour of Thy people: visit us with Thy salvation.

GOSPEL Matthew 17: 1-9

At that time Jesus took Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: and He was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow. And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with Him. And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. hear ye Him. And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said to them: Arise, and fear not. And they lifting up their eyes saw no one, but only Jesus. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the vision to no man till the Son of Man be risen from the dead.

Thus did Jesus encourage his Apostles, when the time of temptation was near ; he sought to impress them with his glory, that it might keep up their faith in that trying time, when the outward eye would see nothing in his person but weakness and humiliation. Oh! the loving considerateness of divine grace, which is never wanting, and shows us, in so strong a light, the goodness and the justice of our God! Like the Apostles, we, also, have sinned ; like them, we have neglected to profit of the help that was sent us from heaven; we have shut our eyes against the light; we have forgotten the fair vision that was granted us, and which made us so fervent and happy; — and we fell. We have not, then, been tempted above our strength, and it is indeed our own fault that we committed sin. The three Apostles were exposed to a terrible temptation, when they beheld their Divine Master robbed of all his majesty; but how easy for them to resist the temptation, by thinking of what they had seen, but a few days before? Instead of that, they lost their courage, and forgot prayer, which would have brought their courage back; and thus, the favoured wit nesses of Thabor became cowards and deserters in the Garden of Mount Olivet. There was but one thing left them to do, — throw themselves upon the loving mercy of their Jesus, as soon as he had triumphed over his enemies; they did so, and his generous Heart pardoned them.

Let us imitate them here too. We have abused the grace of God, and rendered it fruitless, by our want of correspondence. The fountain of this Grace is not yet dried up; as long as we are in this world, we may always draw from this source, which comes from the Blood and merits of our Redeemer. It is Grace that is now urging us to the amendment of our lives. It is given to us in abundance during the present time, and it is given mainly by the holy exercises of Lent. Let us go up the mountain with Jesus; there, we shall not be disturbed by the noise of earthly things. Let us there spend our forty days with Moses and Elias, who, long before us, sanctified this number by their fasts. Thus, when the Son of Man shall have risen from the dead, we will proclaim the favours he has mercifully granted us on Thabor.

In the Offertory, the Church bids us meditate on the commandments of God. Would that we might love them as fervently as the Royal Prophet, whose words these are:

OFFERTORY Psalm 118: 47-48

I will meditate on Thy commandments, which I have loved exceedingly: and I will lift up my hands to Thy commandments, which I have loved.

The holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a source of devotion: let us, as the Church, in the Secret, prays we may, profit by our today’s assistance at it. It contains the pledge and price of our Salvation, and, if we put no obstacle in the way, will complete our reconciliation with our Lord.

SECRET

Peacefully look down, we beseech Thee, O Lord, upon these sacrifices, that they may both increase our devotion and contribute to our salvation. Through our Lord.

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

PREFACE FOR LENT

SANCTUS

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dóminus Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.

The penitent soul, having seen how this ineffable Mystery has given her to enjoy the presence of Him who is her Saviour and her Judge, offers to him her prayers with all the fervour of confidence. She says to him these words of the Psalmist, which form the Communion Antiphon:

COMMUNION – Psalm 5: 2-4

Understand my cry: hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God: for to Thee will I pray, O Lord.

In the Postcommunion, the Church prays especially for those of her children, who have partaken of the Victim she has just been offering. Jesus has nourished them with his own Flesh; it behooves them to prove themselves worthy of him by the renewal of their lives.

POSTCOMMUNION

We humbly beseech Thee, almighty God, that we whom Thou hast strengthened with Thy sacraments, may henceforth serve and please Thee in worthiness of life. Through our Lord.

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

We may close our Sunday by reciting the following beautiful prayer taken from the Mozarabic Breviary.

CAPITULUM

(In 11. Dominica Quadragesimae)

O Jesus, our God! Eternal first beginning of light! who willedst that thy servants should devote the seventh day to sanctification, rather than to work; lo! we come, seeking how we may find thee, but we are prevented by the habitual darkness of our conscience; we make efforts to arise, but we fall back again, and are dejected. Therefore, we beseech thee, cast not away from thy face them that seek thee, for thou didst deign to show thyself to them that did not seek thee. Now is the season of the year, when we are offering to thy holy Name a tithe of our days; and of these days, seven are passed: grant us thine assistance in the path of this fatiguing journey, that so our proffered homage may be without blemish. Sweeten our toil by filling us with an ardent love of thy Majesty and awaken us from the sluggishness of the body, by the fervent abundance of thy charity. May our life, being thus in thee, know no faltering, and our faith find its reward.

18Feb2016

EMBER FRIDAY IN LENT – MASS PROPERS

by Catholic4Life

Basilica of the Twelve Apostles

EMBER FRIDAY IN LENT

The Station is in the basilica of the twelve apostles; it is one of the grandest of the churches of Rome, and is enriched by the bodies of the two apostles, St. Philip and St. James the less.

February 19

STATION AT THE TWELVE APOSTLES

(Indulgence of 10 years and 10 quarantine’s)

Violet vestments

INTROIT – Psalm 24:17, 18, 1, 2

De necessitatibus meis eripe me, Domine: vide humilitatem meam et laborem meum et dimitte omnia peccata mea. Ps. Ad te, Domine, levavi animam meam: Deus meus, in te confio, no erubescam. Gloria Patri. Deliver me, O Lord, from my necessities; see my abjection and my labour; and forgive me all my sins. Ps. To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed. Glory to the Father.

COLLECT

O Lord, be gracious to Thy people; and as Thou makest them devoted to Thee, in Thy mercy cherish them by Thy kind assistance. Through our Lord.

EPISTLE – Ezechiel 18:20-28

Thus saith the Lord God: The soul that sinneth, the same shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son: the justice of the just shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die. Let us not forget the ancient discipline of the Church, during Lent. We should frequently be at a loss to understand her liturgy of this season, unless we picture her to ourselves as preparing the public penitents for a renewed participation in the mysteries. But ﬁrst they must be reconciled with God, whom they have offended. Their soul is dead by sin; can it be restored to life? Yes; we have God’s word for it. The lesson from the prophet Ezechiel, which the Church began yesterday for the catechumens, is continued today for the beneﬁt of the public penitents. If the wicked do penance for all his sins, which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do and justice; living he shall live, and shall not die. But his iniquities are upon him, and rise up against him, crying to heaven for eternal vengeance! And yet God, who knows all things, and forgets nothing, assures us that He will not remember iniquities which have been redeemed by penance. Such is the affection of His fatherly Heart, that He will forget the outrage offered Him by His son, if this son will but return to his duty. Thus, then, our penitents are to be reconciled; and on the feast of the Resurrection they will be associated with the just, because God will have forgotten their iniquities; they themselves will be just men. Thus it is that the liturgy, which never changes, brings frequently before us the ancient discipline of public penance. Nowadays, sinners are not visibly separated from the faithful; the Church doors are not closed against them; they frequently stand near the holy altar, in the company of the just; and when God’s pardon descends upon them, the faithful are not made cognizant of the grace by any special and solemn rite. Let us here admire the wonderful mercy of our heavenly Father, and proﬁt by the indulgent discipline of our holy mother the Church. The lost sheep may enter the fold at any hour and Without any display; let him take advantage of the condescension thus shown him, and never more wander from the Shepherd, who thus mercifully receives him. Neither let the just man be puffed up with self-complacency, by preferring himself to the lost sheep; let him rather reﬂect on those words of today’s lesson: If the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity . . . the justices which he hath done shall not be remembered. Let us, therefore, tremble for ourselves, and have compassion on sinners. One of the great means on which the Church rests her hopes for the reconciliation of sinners is the fervent prayers offered up for them by the faithful during Lent.

GRADUAL – Psalm 85: 2, 6

Save Thy servant, O my God, that trusteth in Thee. Give ear. O Lord, to my prayer.

TRACT – Psalm 102:10; 78: 8, 9

O Lord, repay us not according to the sins we have committed, nor according to our iniquities. O Lord, remember not our former iniquities, let Thy mercies speedily prevent us: for we are become exceeding poor. Here kneel. Help us, O God, our Saviour: and for the glory of Thy Name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for Thy Name’s sake.

GOSPEL – John 5:1-15

At that time there was a festival day of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water. And an Angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. Him when Jesus had seen lying, and knew that he had been now a long time, He saith to him: Wilt thou be made whole? The infirm man answered Him: Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me. Jesus saith to him: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed, and walked. And it was the sabbath that day. The Jews therefore said to him that was healed: It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. He answered them: He that made me whole, He said to me, Take up thy bed, and walk. They asked him therefore: Who is that man who said to thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? But he who was healed, knew not who it was; for Jesus went aside from the multitude standing in the place. Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee. The man went his way, and told the Jews, that it was Jesus who had made him whole. Let us return to our penitents of the ancient discipline of the Church ; those of the present day, and we ourselves, can easily make a practical application of the reﬂections suggested by the Gospel. We have just been told by the prophet that God is ever ready to pardon a penitent sinner. But how is this pardon to be administered? Who is to pronounce the sentence of absolution? The answer is given in our Gospel. He that had been eight-and-thirty years under his inﬁrmity, is a ﬁgure of ‘the inveterate sinner: and yet he is made whole, and recovers the use of his limbs. How has the cure been wrought? First of all, the inﬁrm man says to Jesus: I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond. The water would have cured him; but observe, he has need of some man to lead him to the water. This Man is the Son of God, and He became Man in order to heal us. As Man, He has received power to forgive sins; and, before leaving this earth, He gives that same power to other men, and says to them: ‘Whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them.’ Our penitents, then, are to be reconciled with God by virtue of this supernatural power; and the inﬁrm man, who takes up’ his bed and walks, is a ﬁgure of the sinner, whose sins have been forgiven him by the Church, by the divine power of the keys. In the third century, a heretic, named Novatian, taught that the Church has not the power to forgive sins committed after Baptism. This doctrine was condemned by the Councils and the holy doctors of the Church; and in order to offer to the faithful some outward expression of the power given to the Son of Man of forgiving sins to such as repent, there was painted on the walls of the places where the Christians used to assemble, the inﬁrm man of our Gospel, walking with his bed upon his shoulders This consoling symbol is frequently met with in the frescoes which were painted, even in the age of the martyrs, in the Roman catacombs. They show us how the early Christians were taught to understand this passage of the Gospel, which the Church, so many centuries ago, assigned to this day. The water of the Probatica was also a symbol; and here our Gospel conveyed a special instruction to the catechumens. By water they were to be made whole, and by water endowed with a supernatural virtue. The miraculous pond of Jerusalem could cure only the body, and that at rare intervals, and the favour could be conferred only upon a single individual; but now that the angel of the Great Counsel has come down from heaven, and sanctiﬁed the waters of the Jordan, the Probatica is everywhere; it is giving health to the souls of men, without any limitation either of time or of number. Man is the minister of this grace; but it is the Son of God, become the Son of Man, that works by the human minister. Let us also consider the multitude of sick, who, as the Gospel tells us, were waiting for the moving of the water. They represent the various classes of sinners, who are seeking, during this holy time, to be converted to their God. There are the sick, or, as the Latin word has it, the languid; these are the tepid, who never thoroughly give up their evil habits; there are the blind; these are they whose spiritual eye is dead; there are the lame, who limp and falter in the path of salvation; and, lastly, there are the withered, who seem incapable of doing a single good action. All are waiting for the favourable moment. Jesus will soon be with them, and will say to each of them: Wilt thou be made whole? Let them answer this question with love and conﬁdence, and they will be healed.

OFFERTORY – Psalm 102: 2, 5

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all He hath done for thee, and thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle’s.

SECRET

We beseech Thee, O Lord, receive the offerings of our service: and mercifully hallow Thy gifts. Through our Lord.

PREFACE OF LENT

SANCTUS

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dóminus Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.

COMMUNION – Psalm 6:11

Let all mine enemies be ashamed and be very much troubled: let them be turned back and be ashamed very speedily.

POSTCOMMUNION

O Lord, by the working of this mystery may our vices be purged away and our just desires fulfilled. Through our Lord.

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE

Bow your heads to God. Graciously hear us, O merciful God, and manifest the light of thy grace to our souls. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

17Feb2016

THURSDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT – MASS PROPERS

by Catholic4Life

San Lorenzo in Panisperna – Ceiling fresco of St. Lawrence in Glory by Antonio Bicchierai

THURSDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Today’s Station is in the church of St. Laurence in Paneperna, one of those which the piety of the faithful of Rome has built in honour of this the most celebrated of the martyrs of the holy city.

St. Simeon, Bishop and Martyr

How venerable our saint of today, with his hundred and twenty years, and his episcopal dignity, and his martyr-crown! He succeeded the apostle St. James in the see of Jerusalem; he had known Jesus, and had been His disciple; he was related to Jesus, for he was of the house of David; his father was Cleophas, and his mother that Mary, whom the tie of kindred united so closely to the blessed Mother of God that she has been called her sister. What grand titles these of Simeon who comes with all our other martyrs of Septuagesima, to inspirit us to penance! Such a veteran, who had been a contemporary of the Saviour of the world, and was a pastor who could repeat to his ﬂock the very lessons Jesus had given him, could never rejoin his divine Master save by the path of martyrdom, and that martyrdom must be the cross. Like Jesus, then, he dies on a cross; and his death, which happened in the year 106, closes the ﬁrst period of the Christian era, or, as it is called, the apostolic age. Let us honour this venerable pontiff, whose name awakens within us the recollection of all that is dear to our faith. Let us ask him to extend to us that fatherly love, which nursed the Church of Jerusalem for so many long years. He will bless us from that throne which he won by the cross, and will obtain for us the grace we so much need, the grace of conversion.

The following is the lesson given on St. Simeon

Simeon, the son of Cleophas, was ordained bishop of Jerusalem, and was Saint James’s immediate successor in that see. In the reign of the Emperor Trajan, he was accused to the Consul Atticus of being a Christian and a relation of Christ; for, at this time, all they that were of the house of David were seized. After having endured various tortures, Simeon was put to death by the same punishment which our Saviour suffered, and all the beholders were ﬁlled with astonishment to see how, at his age (for he was a hundred and twenty years old), he could go through the intense pains of cruciﬁxion, without showing a sign of fear or irresolution.

Receive, most venerable saint, the humble homage of our devotion. What is all human glory compared with thine? Thou wast of the family of Christ; thy teaching was that which His divine lips had given thee; thy charity for men was formed on the model of His sacred Heart; and thy death was the closest representation of His. We may not claim the honour thou hadst, of calling ourselves brothers of the Lord Jesus: but pray for us, that we may be of those of whom He thus speaks: ‘Whosoever shall do the will of My Father that is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.’ We have not, like thee, received the doctrine of salvation from the very lips of Jesus; but we have it in all its purity, by means of holy tradition, of which thou art one of the earliest links; oh, obtain for us a docility to this word of God, and pardon for our past disobedience. We have not to be nailed to a cross, as thou wast; but the world is thickly set with trials, to which our Lord Himself gives the name of the cross. These we must bear with patience, if we would have part with Jesus in His glory. Pray for us, O Simeon, that henceforth we may be more faithful; that we may never more become rebels to our duty; and that we may repair the faults we have so often committed by infringing the law of our God.

February 18

MASS

THURSDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Commemoration St. Simeon, Bishop and Martyr

Station Church at St. Laurence’s Panisperna

(Indulgence of 10 years and 10 quarantines)

Violet vestments

Commentary taken from

The Liturgical year by Ven. Abbot Dom Prosper Guéranger

INTROIT – Psalm 95:6,1

Confessio et pulchritudo in conspectu ejus: et sanctitas et magnificentia in sanctificatione ejus. Ps. Cantate Domino canticum novum: cantate Domino omnis terra. Glória Patri.

Praise and beauty are before Him: holiness and majesty in His sanctuary. Ps. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth. Glory be to the Father.

COLLECT

Look down favourably, we beseech Thee, O Lord, upon the devotion of Thy people, that they whose bodies are mortified by abstinence, may through the fruit of good works be refreshed in mind. Through our Lord.

Commemoration St. Simeon, Bishop and Martyr

Look mercifully, almighty God, upon our weakness, and since the burden of our sins weighs heavily upon us, may the glorious intercession of blessed Simeon, Your Martyr and Bishop, sustain us.

COLLECT – FOR THE INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

Defend us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, from all dangers of mind and body: and through the intercession of the blessed and glorious Mary, ever Virgin, mother of God, of Saint Joseph, of Thy holy apostles, Saints Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, in Thy loving kindness grant us safety and peace; that, all adversities and errors being overcome, Thy Church may serve Thee in security and freedom.

COLLECT PRAYER FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

EPISTLE – Ezechiel 18:1-9

In those days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What is the meaning that you use among you this parable as a proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge. As I live, saith the Lord God, this parable shall be no more to you a proverb in Israel. Behold all souls are mine: as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, the same shall die. And if a man be just, and do judgment and justice, and hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel: and hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife, nor come near to a menstruous woman: And hath not wronged any man: but hath restored the pledge to the debtor, hath taken nothing away by violence: hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment: Hath not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase: hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, and hath executed true judgment between man and man: Hath walked in my commandments, and kept my judgments, to do truth: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.

These words of the prophet declare to us the wonderful mercy of God towards the Gentiles, who are preparing to pass from darkness to light by the grace of holy Baptism. The Jews had a favourite proverb: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set an edge: but God assures us, even in the old Testament, that sins are personal, that is, they belong to him who commits them, and to no one else; so that the son of a wicked father, if he walk in the path of righteousness, shall ﬁnd mercy and salvation. The apostles and their disciples preached the Gospel to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles were obedient to the call; they were the children of idolaters, and yet they were seen ﬂocking to the font of regeneration, abjuring the evil ways of their fathers, and becoming the objects of God’s love. The same happened in the conversion of the barbarians of the west; it is happening now in our own times among inﬁdel nations; and many will be the catechumens who, at the coming Easter, will receive the sacrament of Baptism.

God frequently visits children with temporal punishments, because of the sins of their parents; it is a providence, which acts as a check upon men, deterring them from evil out of fear of bringing misery upon their families. But in the moral order, each individual is treated according to his own merits or demerits; and as God does not impute to a virtuous son the iniquities of the father, so neither do the virtues of the father cover the son’s iniquity. Philip the Fair was the grandson of St. Louis; and Wulfere, the wicked king of Mercia, was father of the two saints, Wulfhad and Rufﬁn. Similar contrasts are often found in families, for, as the Scripture says, ‘God hath left man in the hand of his own counsel. . . Before man is life and death, good and evil; that which he shall choose, shall be given unto him.’ And yet, such is the mercy of the Lord our God, that, if a man have made a bad choice, but afterwards cast away from himself the evil, and turn to what is good, he shall surely live, and his repentance shall restore to him what he had forfeited.

GRADUAL – Psalm 16: 8, 2

Keep me, O Lord, as the apple of Thine eye: protect me under the shadow of Thy wings. Let my judgment come forth from Thy countenance: let Thine eyes behold the things that are equitable.

GOSPEL – Matthew 15: 21-28

At that time Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him: Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is grievously troubled by the devil. Who answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying: Send her away, for she crieth after us: And he answering, said: I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. But she came and adored him, saying: Lord, help me. Who answering, said: It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs. But she said: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. Then Jesus answering, said to her: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her daughter was cured from that hour.

Jesus is in admiration at the woman’s faith: He praises her for it; He would have us imitate her. And yet she was a Gentile; probably, she had been an idolatress; but maternal love induces her to come to Jesus, and throw herself at His feet. She obtains from Him her daughter’s cure, and, undoubtedly, her own conversion. It is an illustration of the consoling promise we have just been hearing from the prophet Ezechiel: there are chosen souls in every race, even in that cursed one of Canaan. Our Lord treats this woman with apparent harshness, although He intends to grant her what she asks: He would have her faith gain strength by being tried, and thus deserve to be rewarded. Let us pray, during these days of mercy, with persevering conﬁdence. The daughter of this Canaanite woman was troubled by a devil, that is, her body was possessed by an evil spirit. How many are there, everywhere in the Church, whose souls are a prey to satan, by being in the state of mortal sin! Are they conscious of their misery? Do they beg of our Lord to have mercy on them, and deliver them? And if, at ﬁrst, He defer their pardon, do they humble themselves like this woman of our Gospel, who confesses that she quite deserves this contempt wherewith Jesus seems to treat her? Lost sheep of the house of Israel! Make good use of this holy season, when your good Shepherd is so nigh unto you. Before forty days have elapsed, He will be put to death, and the people that shall deny Him shall not be His. Before forty days are over, we shall be celebrating the anniversary of this great sacriﬁce; and the sinner that shall not be converted from the error of his ways, and shall not have come to Jesus, as did this humble woman of Canaan, will deserve to be for ever rejected. Let us, then, be earnest in the great work of our conversion, and ﬁt ourselves for pardon. Such is the generosity of our heavenly Father, that if we desire, with all the sincerity of our soul, to be once more His faithful children, He will give us more than the crumbs which fall from His table; He will give us Jesus, the Bread of life; and oh, what a pledge of reconciliation is that!

OFFERTORY – Psalm 33: 8, 9

The Angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear Him, and shall deliver them: O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet.

SECRET

May these sacrificial rites, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the more readily save us in that they are introduced by healing fasts. Through our Lord.

Commemoration St. Simeon, Bishop and Martyr

Graciously accept, O Lord, the offerings dedicated to You by the merits of St. Simeon, Your Martyr and Bishop; and grant that they may be a perpetual help to us.

SECRET – FOR THE INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

Graciously hear us, O God our Savior, and by the virtue of this sacrament protect us from all enemies of soul and body, bestowing on us both grace in this life and glory hereafter. Through our Lord.

SECRET PRAYER FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

PREFACE FOR LENT

COMMUNION – John 6:52

The bread that I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world.

POSTCOMMUNION

Out of the abundance of Thy gifts, O Lord, sustain us with temporal safeguards, and renew us by the those that are eternal. Through our Lord.

Commemoration St. Simeon, Bishop and Martyr

We who have been refreshed by partaking of the divine sacrifice, beseech You, O Lord our God, that through the intercession of blessed Simeon, Your Martyr and Bishop, we may experience the effects of the worship we perform.

POSTCOMMUNION – FOR THE INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

Graciously hear us, O God our Savior, and by the virtue of this sacrament protect us from all enemies of soul and body, bestowing on us both grace in this life and glory hereafter. Through our Lord.

POSTCOMMUNION PRAYER FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE

Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that all Christian people may acknowledge what they profess, and love the heavenly mystery they so often approach. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us read this admirable preface, taken from the Mozarabic missal. It shows us how Jesus is the Bread of life, which supports us during our fast. It will not be the less acceptable, because it is almost word for word a repetition of one already given from the Ambrosian rite.

PREFACE

(Illatio. Dominica III. Quadragesimae)

It is meet and just, yea truly right and available to salvation, that we should give thanks, O almighty Father, to thee, and to our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son: in whom they that fast ﬁnd the nourishment of their faith, the advancement of their hope, the strengthening of their charity. For he is the true and living Bread, who is the nourishment of eternity, and the food of virtue. For he is thy Word, by whom all things were made; the Bread, not only of the souls of men, but likewise of the very angels. With this Bread was thy servant Moses fed, when, receiving thy Law, he fasted forty days and forty nights, and abstained from bodily food, that he might be the better able to partake of thy sweetness. He lived and grew strong on thy Word, of whose sweetness his spirit drank, and with whose light his face did beam. Hence, he felt not hunger, and forgot all earthly food, for the sight of thy glory shone upon him, and, through the infusion of the Holy Spirit, he ate interiorly of the word. To us likewise, thou ceasest not to administer this Bread; yea, thou biddest us unceasingly hunger after it. When we feed on this Flesh, we are strengthened; when we drink of this Blood, we are cleansed.

17Feb2016

The Parmesan you’re putting on your pasta could be WOOD!

by Catholic4Life

The Parmesan you’re putting on your pasta could be WOOD: Report finds some products contain NO cheese!

FDA says cheese suppliers have been filling products with cellulose

This is a common anti-clumping agent that is made from wood pulp

100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, from Jewel-Osco had 8.8% cellulose

Wal-Mart Great Value 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese registered 7.8%

You might want to think twice about sprinkling Parmesan on your penne. A new report has found that what you thought was 100 per cent Parmesan cheese may in fact be wood. Even worse, some brands may not have any cheese in their product at all.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently in the process of prosecuting industry offenders. It’s involved in a criminal case against Castle Cheese, which was once a major supplier to the big grocery chains, for selling ‘Parmesan’ products with cut-rate substitutes, such as wood. The FDA believes other grated Parmesan suppliers have been filling products with too much cellulose – a common anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp.

Some have also been adding cheaper cheese into the mix, such as using cheddar instead of Romano. Castle President Michelle Myrter is expected to plead guilty this month to criminal charges. She could get up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Cheese makers mix in wood pulp when making cheese because it is cheaper than pure parmesan.

Neil Schuman’s New Jersey-based company, Arthur Schuman, is the biggest seller of hard Italian cheeses in the US. He believes that 20 per cent of US cheese are mislabelled, and many may contain wood Neil Schuman’s New Jersey-based company, Arthur Schuman, is the biggest seller of hard Italian cheeses in the US.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT CHEESE THAT MAKES IT SO ADDICTIVE?

There’s a reason we find it hard to resist a wedge of ripe Camembert. And it’s not the smell or the taste. Scientists say we are subconsciously drawn to unhealthy food because we see it as dangerous and attractive. It’s the same lure that makes ‘dangerous’ people irresistible — and the more danger we sense, the harder it is to ignore. Researchers from Italy’s International School for Advanced Studies studied how people saw different foods on both conscious and unconscious levels.

People pay attention to things that are dangerous and so when we see it we can’t help but be lured in. The more unhealthy the food the more dangerous it seems to us – and the harder it is to resist. He believes that 20 per cent of US cheese are mislabelled, according to an in-depth report in Bloomberg. ‘The tipping point was grated cheese, where less than 40 per cent of the product was actually a cheese product,’ Schuman said. ‘Consumers are innocent, and they’re not getting what they bargained for. And that’s just wrong.’

Bloomberg News conducted its own tests on shop-bought grated cheese. Essential Everyday 100 per cent Grated Parmesan Cheese, from Jewel-Osco, was 8.8 per cent cellulose. Wal-Mart’s Great Value 100 per cent Grated Parmesan Cheese registered 7.8 per cent, according to test results. Kraft had 3.8 per cent. Cheese makers and retailers told Bloomberg they were investigating the results further. Cellulose is a safe additive and listed as an ingredient ‘100 per cent’ cheeses. But, an acceptable level is 2 per cent to 4 per cent. While the practice has been going on for some time, Bloomberg suggests that FDA’s investigation may help cut down fraud in the industry.

Bacteria From People Used to Make Human Cheese

Source

Read more:

The Parmesan Cheese You Sprinkle on Your Penne Could Be Wood – Bloomberg Business

16Feb2016

EMBER WEDNESDAY IN LENT – MASS PROPERS

by Catholic4Life

EMBER WEDNESDAY IN LENT

February 17

The Liturgical Year – Ven. Abbot Dom Prosper Guéranger

The fast of today is prescribed by a double law: it is Lent, and it is Ember Wednesday. It is the same with the Friday and Saturday of this week. There are two principal objects for the Ember days of this period of the year: the ﬁrst is to offer up to God the season of spring, and, by fasting and prayer, to draw down His blessing upon it; the second is, to ask Him to enrich with His choicest graces the priests and sacred ministers who are to receive their Ordination on Saturday. Let us, therefore, have a great respect for these three days; and let those who violate, upon them, the laws of fasting or abstinence, know that they commit a twofold sin.

Up to the eleventh century the Ember days of spring were kept in the ﬁrst week of March; and those of summer, in the second week of June. It was St. Gregory VII, who ﬁxed them as we now have them; that is, the Ember days of spring in the ﬁrst week of Lent, and those of summer in Whitsun week.

The Station for today is in the basilica of Saint Mary Major. Let us honour the Mother of God, the refuge of sinners; and let us ask her to present to our divine Judge the humble tribute of our penance.

MASS

WEDNESDAY OF EMBER WEEK IN LENT

STATION AT MAJOR MARY

(Indulgence of 10 years and 10 quarantines)

Violet vestments

WEDNESDAY OF EMBER WEEK IN LENT

Commentary taken from

The Liturgical Year – Ven. Abbot Dom Prosper Guéranger

INTROIT – Psalm 24:6, 3, 22, 1, 2

Reminiscere miserationum tuarum, Domine, et misericordiæ tuæ, quæ a sæculo sunt: ne umquam dominentur nobis inimici nostri: libera nos, Deus Isræl, ex omnibus angustiis nostris. Ps. Ad te, Domine, levavi animam meam: Deus meus, in te confido, no erubescam. Gloria Patri.

Remember O Lord, Thy bowels of compassion and Thy mercies, that are from the beginning of the world; lest at any time our enemies rule over us; deliver us, O God of Isræl, from all our necessities. Ps. To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed. Glory to the Father.

COLLECT

Let us pray. Let us kneel. Arise. Mercifully hear our prayers, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty against all our foes. Through our Lord.

The Epistle of the Mass for all the Ember Wednesdays consists of two lessons from sacred Scripture. Today the Church brings before us the two great types of Lent, Moses and Elias, in order to impress us with an idea of the importance of this forty days’ fast, which Christ Himself solemnly consecrated when He observed it, thus fulﬁlling, in His own Person, what the Law and the Prophets had but preﬁgured.

First Lesson

LESSON – Exodus 24:12-18

In those days the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written: that thou mayst teach them. Moses rose up, and his minister Josue: and Moses going up into the mount of God, said to the ancients: Wait ye here till we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question shall arise, you shall refer it to them. And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses, entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain: and he was there forty days, and forty nights.

GRADUAL – Psalm 24:17-18

The troubles of my heart are multiplied: deliver me from my necessities, O Lord. See my abjection and my labour; and forgive me all my sins.

COLLECT

Look down, favourably, we beseech Thee, O Lord, upon the devotion of Thy people, that they whose bodies are mortified by abstinence, may through the fruit of good works be refreshed in mind.

EPISTLE – III Kings 19: 3-8

In those days Elias came to Bersabee of Juda, and left his servant there, And he went forward, one day’s journey into the desert. And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said: It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul: for I am no better than my fathers. And he cast himself down, and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree: and behold an angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him: Arise and eat. He looked, and behold there was at his head a hearth cake, and a vessel of water: and he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: Arise, eat: for thou hast yet a great way to go. And he arose, and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb.

Moses and Elias fast for forty days and forty nights, because God bids them come near to Him. Man must purify himself, he must unburden himself, in some measure at least, of the body which weighs him down, if he would enter into communication with Him who is the Spirit. And yet the vision of God granted to these two holy personages was very imperfect: they felt that God was near them, but they beheld not His glory. But when the fullness of time came, God manifested Himself in the ﬂesh: and man saw, and heard, and touched Him. We, indeed, are not of the number of those favoured ones who lived with Jesus, the Word of life: but in the holy Eucharist He allows us to do more than see Him: He enters into our breasts, He is our food. The humblest member of the Church possesses God more fully than either Moses on Sinai, or Elias on Horeb. We cannot, therefore, be surprised that the Church, in order to ﬁt us for this favour at the Easter solemnity, bids us go through a preparation of forty days, though its severity is not to be compared with the rigid fast which Moses and Elias had to observe as the condition of receiving what God promised them.

TRACT – Psalm 24:17, 18, 1- 4

Deliver me from my necessities, O Lord: see my abjection and my labour; and forgive me all my sins. To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul; in Thee, O my God, I put my trust, let me not be ashamed; neither let mine enemies laugh at me. For none of them that wait on Thee shall be confounded: let all them be confounded that do vain things.

GOSPEL – Matthew 12: 38-50

At that time some of the Scribes and Pharisees answered Jesus, saying: Master we would see a sign from thee. Who answering said to them: An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights: so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The men of Ninive shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold a greater than Jonas here. The queen of the south shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon here. And when an unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith: I will return into my house from whence I came out. And coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation. As He was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold His mother and His brethren stood without, seeking to speak to Him. And one said unto Him: Behold Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, seeking Thee. But He answering him that told Him, said: Who is My mother, and who are My brethren? And stretching forth His hand towards His disciples, He said: Behold My mother and My brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of My Father, that is in heaven, He is My brother, and sister, and mother.

Our Lord forewarns Israel of the chastisements which its voluntary blindness and hardness of heart will bring upon it. The men of Israel refuse to believe, unless they see signs and prodigies ; they have them in abundance, but will not see them. Such are the unbelievers of the present day. They say they want proofs of the divine origin of the Catholic religion. What is history but a tissue of proofs; what are the events of the present age, but testimony of the truth? And yet they remain incredulous. They have their own views and prejudices, and they intend to keep to them; how, then, can it be wondered at that they never embrace the true faith? Inﬁdels, who have not had the like opportunities, will rise in judgment with such a generation and condemn it for its resistance to grace. Let us Catholics remember that amidst the great religious movement which is now going on, it is our duty to be not only most ﬁrm in our faith, but also most zealous in the observance of the laws of the Church, such, for example, as Lent. The apostolate of example will produce its fruits; and if a mere handful of Christians was to the Roman empire like that leaven of which our Saviour speaks, and which leavened the whole mass, what results might we not expect in a country like our own, which has retained so much Catholic practice and doctrine, if the Catholics themselves were but zealous in the exercise of their duties’?

OFFERTORY – Psalm 118:47, 48

I meditated also on Thy commandments, which I loved exceedingly: and I lifted up my hands to Thy commandments, which I loved.

SECRET

We make sacrificial offerings to propitiate Thee, O Lord, so that in Thy mercy Thou mayest forgive us our sins and Thyself guide our wayward hearts. Through our Lord.

PREFACE FOR LENT

COMMUNION – Psalm 5:2-4

Understand my cry: hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God: for to Thee will I pray: O Lord.

POSTCOMMUNION

By the reception of Thy Sacrament, O Lord, may we both be cleansed from our secret sins and delivered from the snares of our enemies.

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE

Bow your heads to God.

Enlighten, we beseech thee, O Lord, our minds with the light of thy brightness, that we may discern what is to be done, and be able to do it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We take the following devout stanzas on fasting from the Triodion of the Greek Church.

HYMN

Wonderful is the armour of prayer and fasting! With it, Moses became a legislator, and Elias a zealous priest. Let us, O ye faithful, resolutely take it unto ourselves, and cry out to our Saviour: To thee alone have we sinned; have mercy on us.

Let us fast a spiritual fast, break all the snares of the serpent, shun the wickedness of evil example, and forgive our brethren their offences against us, that our own sins may be forgiven; for thus shall We be able to say: May our prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in thy sight!

O thou that alone art Good! O fount of mercy! O Lamb of God, who, being thyself God, takest away the sins of the world! I am tossed by the storms of sin; save me, and lead me to the paths of penance. The true fast is ﬂeeing from sin, turning away from evil affections, love of God, earnest prayer, tears of compunction, and charity towards the poor, as Christ teaches us in the Scripture.

My soul is pierced with the sword of sin, and is mangled by manifold crimes: heal it, O thou kind physician of souls! Apply unto me, O merciful Jesus, the remedy of thy all-wise commandments. Now is the time for compunction, for it is the time of the fast; let us earnestly give ourselves to tears and sighs, and stretch forth our hands to our only Redeemer, beseeching him to unfetter our souls.

Give me the grace, O my good Jesus! to stiﬂe all my wicked affections, to be ﬁlled with the love of thee, to be rich in divine gifts, and to serve thee with all devotedness. Take heed, my soul, lest, whilst fasting, thou be guilty of the gluttony of injuring and hating thy neighbour, and quarrelling with him; and thus lose thy God, by thy negligence.

How shall I be able, O my Jesus, to endure thy wrath, when thou comest to judge me? What answer shall I then make unto thee, if new I refuse to fulfill thy just commands? O pardon me, before my departure hence. Liberate my soul, O Lord, from the tyranny of my passions, that I may enjoy the freedom of doing thy will, and give glory to thy power, for eternity.

Hate, O my soul, the intemperance of Esau, and imitate the holy Jacob; destroy Belial by abstinence, make treasure to thyself of divine riches, and let the praise of God be for ever on thy lips.

Grant unto us, O merciful Saviour, that we may traverse the sea of our fast unmolested by storms: and that we, who are ever celebrating thy praise, may be brought to the haven of thy Resurrection.

16Feb2016

LENTEN MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION AND DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST

by Catholic4Life

JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR US

He hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.

He hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Behold, O men, how far the love of Jesus for us has carried him, in order to cleanse us from the filthiness of our sins. He has even shed every drop of his blood that he might prepare for us in this his own blood a bath of salvation: “He offers his own blood,“ says a learned writer, “speaking better than the blood of Abel: for that cried for justice; the blood of Christ for mercy.”

Whereupon St. Bonaventure exclaims, “O good Jesus, what hast Thou done?'” O my Saviour, what indeed hast Thou done? How far hath Thy love carried Thee? What hast Thou seen in me which hath made Thee love me so much? “Wherefore hast Thou loved me so much? Why, Lord, why? What am I?'” Wherefore didst Thou choose to suffer so much for me? Who am I that Thou wouldst win to Thyself my love at so dear a price? Oh, it was entirely the work of Thy in finite love! Be Thou eternally praised and blessed for it.

O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like to My sorrow. The same seraphic Doctor, considering these words of Jeremias as spoken of our blessed Redeemer while he was hanging on the cross dying for the love of us, says, ” Yes, Lord, I will attend and see if there be any love like unto Thy love.” ‘By which he means, I do indeed see and understand, O my most loving Redeemer, how much Thou didst suffer upon that infamous tree; but what most constrains me to love Thee is the thought of the affection which Thou hast shown me in suffering so much, in order that I might love Thee.

That which most inflamed St. Paul with the love of Jesus was the thought that he chose to die, not only for all men, but for him in particular: He loved me, and delivered Himself up for me? Yes, he has loved me, said he, and for my sake he gave himself up to die. And thus ought every one of us to say; for St. John Chrysostom asserts that God has loved every individual man with the same love with which he has loved the world: “He loves each man separately with the same measure of charity with which he loves the whole world.” So that each one of us is under as great obligation to Jesus Christ for having suffered for every one, as if he had suffered for him alone.

For supposing, my brother, Jesus Christ had died to save you alone, leaving all others to their original ruin, what a debt of gratitude you would owe to him ‘ But you ought to feel that you owe him a greater obligation still for having died for the salvation of all. For if he had died for you alone, what sorrow would it not have caused you to think that your neighbors, parents, brothers, and friends would be damned, and that you would, when this life was over, be forever separated from them? If you and your family had been slaves, and some one came to rescue you alone, how would you not entreat of him to save your parents and brothers together with yourself! And how much would you thank him if he did this to please you! Say, therefore, to Jesus:

O my sweetest Redeemer! Thou hast done this for me without my having asked Thee; Thou hast not only saved me from death at the price of Thy blood, but also my parents and friends, so that I may have a good hope that we may all together enjoy Thy presence forever in paradise. O Lord! I thank Thee, and I love Thee, and I hope to thank Thee for it, and to love Thee forever in that blessed country.

By St. Alphonsus de Liguori

16Feb2016

Justice Scalia Requiescat in pace: “My gut tells me there is something fishy going on!” – Former D.C. homicide commander

by Catholic4Life

Justice Scalia Requiescat in pace.

My children are faithful because we’d travel miles every Sunday to find a devout Mass! – Antonin Scalia

‘My gut tells me there is something fishy going on’: Former D.C. homicide commander weighs in as conspiracy theories swirl around the death of Scalia

William Ritchie has raised questions of how Scalia’s death was treated
Questioned the actions of a U.S. Marshal and a Texas judge
Judge Cinderela Guevara did not ask for an autopsy when she was called
She said Scalia died of natural causes, despite not seeing the body
Ritchie said: ‘What medical proof exists of a myocardial Infarction? Why not a cerebral hemorrhage?’

A former D.C. homicide commander believes there is something ‘fishy’ about the circumstances surrounding Justice Scalia’s death. William O. Ritchie, the former head of criminal investigations for the capital’s police department, questioned the way the local authorities handled the 79-year-old’s passing at a ranch over the weekend. Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara announced the veteran jurist died of natural causes, without seeing the body and without ordering an autopsy. Scalia’s personal doctor, Brian Monahan, has revealed he had a history of heart problems, high blood pressure and had been too weak to undergo a recent surgery.

But it didn’t stop a flurry of conspiracy theories about what happened, including a scathing account by Ritchie.According to the Washington Post, he wrote: ‘You have a Supreme Court Justice who died, not in attendance of a physician, ‘You have a non-homicide trained US Marshal tell the justice of peace that no foul play was observed.

‘You have a justice of the peace pronounce death while not being on the scene and without any medical training opining that the justice died of a heart attack. ‘What medical proof exists of a myocardial Infarction? Why not a cerebral hemorrhage.He also raised concerns about the actions of the U.S. Marshal who called Guevara to report the judge’s death. ‘How can the Marshal say, without a thorough post mortem, that he was not injected with an illegal substance that would simulate a heart attack,’ he added. ‘Did the US Marshal check for petechial hemorrhage in his eyes or under his lips that would have suggested suffocation? ‘Did the US Marshal smell his breath for any unusual odor that might suggest poisoning? My gut tells me there is something fishy going on in Texas.’

A spokesman for the Marshal service told the Washington Post the officer did not give a determination of death. Monahan would not comment on the circumstances surrounding his patient’s death because of confidentiality. The 79-year-old, who sat on the Supreme Court bench for 20 years, was found dead at a ranch in Texas during a retreat with friends and admirers.

Did the US Marshal smell his breath for any unusual odor that might suggest poisoning? My gut tells me there is something fishy going on in Texas

William Ritchie, former DC homicide detective

John Poindexter, who found the Justice lifeless in his room in the El Presidente suite at the Cibolo Creek Ranch in Texas, said Scalia looked peaceful.

‘We discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled. He was lying very restfully,’ – Poindexter, the owner of the ranch, said.

Poindexter first went to Scalia’s room at 8.30am on Saturday, but the door was locked and his knocks went unanswered.

He returned three hours later with a friend of Scalia’s, who had come with him from Washington DC to the ranch.

Poindexter said Scalia was ‘stone cold’ and did not have a pulse. After the owner and Scalia’s friend called 911, local authorities and several US Marshals arrived at the ranch.

‘The judge…was in complete repose. He was very peaceful in the bed,’ Poindexter told NBC News.

You have a justice of the peace pronounce death while not being on the scene and without any medical training opining that the justice died of a heart attack. What medical proof exists of a myocardial Infarction? Why not a cerebral hemorrhage

William Ritchie

‘He had obviously passed away with no difficulty at all in the middle of the night.’

‘Among the most commonly said things yesterday was, if this had to happen, and we’re really sad that it did, but if it had to happen, it happened in the very best of circumstances.

‘He seemed to enjoy himself greatly.’

Scalia arrived at the ranch, which is south of Marfa, Texas, around noon on Friday. Poindexter said the judge had a ‘jolly lunch’ and then observed as some of the guests hunted quail.

At dinner that night Scalia was his ‘usual, personal self’ but seemed tired and at about 9pm said he wanted to get some sleep after ‘a long day and a long week’, Poindexter told My San Antonio.

Scalia’s personal physician and sheriff’s investigators said there were so signs of foul play and concluded he had died of natural causes.

Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara, who pronounced Scalia dead, said his death certificate will say the cause of death was natural and that he died of a heart attack, she told ABC News.

She said Scalia’s doctor in Washington DC told her the Justice had been sick last week but was at the office Wednesday and Thursday before departing for his quail hunting trip on Friday.

Guevara was out of town and said she planned to drive to the ranch but was told by a US Marshal, who was with Scalia’s body, that it was unnecessary to do so.

She asked the US Marshals if there were any signs of foul play and they assured her ‘absolutely not’, according to The Washington Post.

Guevara then talked to Scalia’s personal physician in DC before she officially pronounced him dead and declined to order an inquest.

Under Texas law it is legal for a justice of the peace to declare someone dead without seeing the body.

US marshals accompanied a hearse carrying Scalia’s body to the airport, where it was then transported to a private plane that departed for Virginia around 8pm.

Daily Mail

Read more:

	Romelia Hernandez on NOVENA TO ST. JOSEPH – S…
	La Voz del Santo Nom… on PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS NOVENA…
	soulofacarmelite on THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT…
	Imajvmb on THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT…
	Chris Dover on Atlanta Bishop apologizes for…

STATION AT SS. MARCELLINUS AND PETER

SATURDAY

IN THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT

Missa ‘Lex Domini’

INTROIT

Psalm 18:8, 2

COLLECT

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

EPISTLE

Genesis 27:6-40

GRADUAL

Psalm 91:2-3

GOSPEL

Luke 15:11-32

OFFERTORY

Psalm 12:4-5

SECRET

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

PREFACE FOR LENT

COMMUNION

Luke 15:32

POSTCOMMUNION

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE

SEQUENCE

STATION AT ST. VITALIS

FRIDAY

OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT

INTROIT

Psalm 16:15

COLLECT

EPISTLE

Lesson from the Book of Genesis

Genesis 37:6-22

GRADUAL

Psalm 119:1-2

TRACT

Psalm 102:10; 78: 8, 9

GOSPEL

Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew

Matthew 21:33-46

OFFERTORY

Psalm 39:14, 15

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE

HYMN

Fury at Obama’s gloating joke about replacing Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court that had a room full of governors laughing!

President Obama made a crack yesterday about ‘appointing judges’ in front of the National Governors Association – a joke about Scalia’s death

Conservatives took to the internet to condemn the president’s remark, which they viewed as ‘classless’ and ‘sick’

One legal expert, however, claimed the joke was about the process of appointing the next justice and not aimed directly at Scalia

Conservatives expressed fury today that President Obama joked about the death of Anontin Scalia, the Supreme Court justice

Addressing the National Governors Association at the White House yesterday, Obama talked about some of the downsides of being a lame duck.

Scroll down for video

The pause was filled with laughter coming from the governors sitting in the room.

Video: Obama’s Scalia Death Joke Angers America

The president also didn’t do himself any favors when reporters found out that he was golfing on Sunday, a favorite leisure activity of the president’s that generally gets him in trouble with conservatives.

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

This is my beloved Son…hear ye him.

MASS

Dominica Secunda in Quadragesima

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

This is my beloved Son… hear ye him

STATION AT ST. MARY’S IN DOMINICA

Semi-double – Privilege of the First Class

Violet vestments

Missa ‘Reminiscere’

INTROIT – Psalm 24: 6, 3, 22

COLLECT

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

EPISTLE -1 Thessalonians 4: 1-7

GRADUAL – Psalm 24: 17-18

TRACT – Psalm 105: 1-4

GOSPEL Matthew 17: 1-9

OFFERTORY Psalm 118: 47-48

SECRET

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD