Philadelphia Chapter

Even though Easter has passed and Lent is over, this meaningful text deserves to be read.

The History of Lent

The forty days’ fast, which we call Lent, is the Church’s preparation for Easter, and was instituted at the very commencement of Christianity. In most languages, the name given to this fast expresses the number of days – forty, such as Quadragesima in Latin; the English word Lent signifies the Spring-fast, for Lenten-tide in the ancient Anglo-Saxon language, was the season of Spring. Our Blessed Lord Himself sanctioned this fast by fasting forty days and forty nights in the desert; and though He did not impose it on the world by an express commandment (which, in that case, could not have been open to the power of dispensation), yet He showed plainly enough, by His own example, that fasting, which God had so frequently ordered in the old Law, was to be practiced also by the children of the new.

The disciples of St. John the Baptist came, one day, to Jesus, and said to Him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Thy disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the children of the Bridegroom mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.” (Matt. 9, 14-15)

Hence we find it mentioned, in the Acts of the Apostles, how the disciples of Our Lord, after the foundation of the Church, applied themselves to fasting. In their Epistles, also, they recommended it to the faithful. Nor could it be otherwise. Though the divine mysteries whereby Our Savior wrought our Redemption have been consummated, yet we are still sinners; and where there is sin, there must be expiation.

The Apostles, therefore, legislated for our weakness by instituting, at the very commencement of the Christian Church, that the solemnity of Easter should be preceded by a universal fast; and it was only natural that they should have made this period of penance to consist of forty days, seeing that Our Divine Master had consecrated that number by His own fast. St. Jerome, St. Leo the Great, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Isidore of Seville, and others of the Fathers of the Church, assure us that Lent was instituted by the Apostles, although, at the beginning, there was no uniform way of observing it.

Thus the Eastern Rites begin Lent much earlier than the Latin, owing to their custom of never fasting on Saturdays. This is the origin of the Latin Rite’s Septuagesima, which roughly corresponds to the beginning of the Eastern Lent. We see also that the Latin Rite – which, even as late as the sixth century, kept only thirty-six fasting days during the six weeks of Lent (for the Church has never allowed Sundays to be kept as days of fast) – thought it proper to add, later on, the last four days of Quinquagesima, in order that her Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday, might contain forty days of fast.

St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, and St. Gregory the Great, make the remark, that the commandment put upon our first parents was one of abstinence; and that it was by their not exercising this virtue, that they brought every kind of evil upon themselves and upon us their children. The life of privation, which the king of creation, Adam, had thenceforward to lead on this earth (for the earth was to yield him nothing of its natural growth, save thorns and thistles), was the clearest possible exemplification of the law of penance imposed by the anger of God on rebellious man.

When God mercifully shortened man’s ordinary life span, that so he might have less time and power for sin, He permitted him to eat the flesh of animals, as an additional nourishment in that state of deteriorating strength. Fasting, then, includes abstinence from such nourishment as this. Its privation is essential to the very notion of fasting.

Fasting also includes the depriving ourselves of some portion of our ordinary food, inasmuch as it allows only one full meal during the day. It was the custom with the Jews, in the old Law, not to take the one meal allowed on fast days, till sunset. The Christian Church adopted the same custom. It was scrupulously practiced for many centuries. But about the ninth century some relaxation began to be introduced in the Latin Church, and the custom, though resisted at first, gradually spread of taking the repast after the hour of None, that is, about three in the afternoon. By the late thirteenth century, even this was considered too severe, and a still further relaxation was deemed necessary – that of breaking the fast after the hour of Sext, or after noon.

But whilst this relaxation of taking the repast so early in the day as noon rendered fasting less difficult in one way, it made it more severe in another – by evening the body had grown exhausted by the labors of the day. It was found necessary to grant some refreshment for the evening, and it was called a collation. The word was taken from the Benedictine rule, which allows wine to be taken in the evening on fast days outside of Lent. It was the custom to read from the Collationes of Cassian during this refreshment; thus the name. Shortly after the death of St. Karl the Great, the Chapter of Aachen extended this indulgence to the Lenten fast. By the fifteenth century, it was permitted to take a morsel of bread with the wine, so the monks would not be obliged to take wine on an empty stomach. These mitigations gradually found their way from the cloister to the world, and eventually a second collation was permitted – so long as the two collations together did not constitute a full meal. Eventually, a variety of foods, besides bread, were permitted at the collations, with the exception of meat. Beverages were permitted between meals.

Thus did the decay of piety, and the general deterioration of bodily strength among the people of the western nations, infringe on the primitive observance of fasting. To make our history of these humiliating changes anything like complete, we must mention further relaxations. For many centuries eggs and dairy foods were not allowed, because they came under the class of animal food. Beginning with the ninth century, dairy foods were gradually permitted, especially in northern Europe. The Churches of France resisted this custom until the seventeenth century.

In earlier ages, even princes had difficulty in obtaining dispensations. Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, being seized with a malady which rendered it dangerous to his health to take the Lenten diet, applied, in the year 1297, to Pope Boniface VIII, for permission to eat meat. The Pontiff commissioned two Cistercian abbots to inquire into the real state of the prince’s health; they were to grant the dispensation if they found it necessary, but only on condition that the king had not taken a vow to observe the fast for life, that he must abstain from meat on Fridays, Saturdays and the vigil of St. Matthias, and that he must not take his meal in the presence of others and was to observe moderation in what he took. But after the fifteenth century, dispensations became increasingly easy to obtain. Eventually eggs and even meat were widely permitted on most of the Lenten fast days. Pope Benedict XIV lamented this general relaxation in an encyclical in 1741, and, in 1745, he renewed the prohibition of eating fish and meat at the same meal – but even this prohibition has been generally relaxed.

How few Christians do we meet who are strict observers of Lent, even in its present mild form! What comparison can be made between the Christians of former times, who, deeply impressed with the fear of God’s judgments and with the spirit of penance, happily went through these forty days, and those of modern times, when love of pleasure and self-indulgence are forever lessening man’s horror for sin? Where is now that simple and innocent joy at Easter, which our forefathers used to show, when, after their severe fast of Lent, they partook of substantial and savory food? The peace, which long and sharp mortification ever brings to the conscience, gave them the capability, not to say the right, of being light-hearted as they returned to the comforts of life, which they had denied themselves in order to spend forty days in penance, recollection, and retirement from the world.

In the “ages of faith”, Lent was a season during which, not only all amusements and theatrical entertainments were forbidden by the civil authority, but even the law courts were closed; and this in order to secure that peace and calm of heart, which is so indispensable for the soul’s self-examination and reconciliation with her offended Maker. Hunting, too, was for many ages considered forbidden during Lent. Even war, which is sometimes so necessary for the welfare of a nation, was suspended during this holy season. Indeed, in the eleventh century, the institution called “God’s truce” became widespread, which forbade the carrying of arms from Wednesday evening until Monday morning throughout the year. St. Edward the Confessor, King of England, decreed that God’s truce should be observed without cessation from the beginning of Advent through the Octave of Easter and from the Ascension through the Octave of Pentecost, as well as on all Ember days and Vigils, beside the days already prescribed.

Thus did the secular world testify its respect for the holy observances of Lent, and borrow some of its wisest institutions from the seasons and feasts of the liturgical year. The influence of this forty days’ penance was great, too, on each individual. It renewed man’s energies, gave him fresh vigor in battling with his animal instincts, and, by the restraint it put upon sensuality, ennobled the soul. There was restraint everywhere; and the present discipline of the Church, which forbids the solemnization of marriage during Lent, reminds Christians of that holy continency, which, for many ages, was observed during the whole forty days as a precept, and of which the most sacred of the liturgical books, the Missale Romanum, still retains the recommendation. The final rubric of the Nuptial Mass states: Let the priest admonish them, in grave words…to remain chaste during the time of prayer, especially fasts and solemnities…(such as on liturgical vigils and during the penitential seasons of Lent and Advent.)

In closing, we extract from the encyclical of Pope Benedict XIV, cited above: The observance of Lent is the very badge of the Christian warfare. By it we prove ourselves not to be enemies of Christ. By it we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it we gain strength against the princes of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help. Should mankind grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment to God’s glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion, and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted that such negligence would become the source of misery to the world, of public calamity, and of private woe.

More than two hundred years have elapsed since this solemn warning of the Vicar of Christ was given to the world; and during that time, the relaxation he inveighed against has gone on gradually increasing. The result of this ever-growing spirit of immortification has been a general laxity of character, which has led to frightful social disorders. The sad predictions of Pope Benedict XIV are but too truly verified. Every nation among whose people the spirit and practice of penance are extinct, are heaping against themselves the wrath of God, and provoking His justice to destroy them by one or other of these scourges – civil disorder or conquest.

It is sad and humiliating to note that as laxities were introduced by the hierarchy and local churches into the laws of fasting and practices of severe penance, the members of the Church have suffered immeasurable spiritual loss – a loss of at least part of the rigor of those sacred times set apart to cleanse their bodies and souls of imperfections and the corrupting spirit of the world. In our modern times, the spread of permissiveness, liberalism, deterioration of morality and the general practices of purity, have led to a spirit of relaxation and the loss of a general effort, on the part of the faithful, to strive for a life of holiness and of union with God through the practices of self-denial, mortification, piety and renouncement of the spirit of the world – a spirit which is opposed to the spirit of a true Christian life and the very possibility of eternal salvation.

So our Mass goes back, without essential change, to the age when it first developed out of the oldest liturgy of all. It is still redolent of that liturgy, of the days when Cæsar ruled the world and thought he could stamp out the faith of Christ, when our fathers met together before dawn and sang a hymn to Christ as to a God. The final result of our enquiry is that, in spite of unsolved problems, in spite of later changes, there is not in Christendom another rite so venerable as ours. ~Fortescue

We sincerely apologize for not being able to post anything during Holy Week, including Easter Sunday. We have only been able to access the site to make postings within the last hour. These technical difficulties precluded our ability to post schedules of the various churches that offer the Traditional Holy Week services.

We hope all of our readers had a very devotional Holy Week and a Happy and Holy Easter Sunday. Thank you for your understanding.

William A. Torchia, Esq., Chairman

LONELY SUFFERING 

To suffer at all is a thing from which our nature shrinks instinctively. But to suffer alone, ah! that is to make the suffering doubly to be dreaded. Companionship in my hour of trial is a very precious boon. When sorrow has come to harrow my soul or when ills of body shackle my tortured limbs to a bed of pain, how good beyond all telling to find by my side a friend to pour the balm of his strong affection upon the wound that gnaws at my heart or, by his comforting presence, hearten my failing courage to bear my physical sufferings.

Yes, friendly companionship is a precious thing in the hour of suffering. But what of those other hours when we must suffer alone? What of those hours when the anguish of my soul lies hidden in such secret closets that even my dearest earthly friend is utterly excluded from its sharing? What of those hours when the forms that pass my bed of pain are strangers and the eyes that look upon my suffering are unkindled with the light of friendly sympathy? What then? Ah, then, if I would bear my suffering in a Christian way, then must I go in spirit to the moonlit Olive Garden and kneel by the side of the loneliest of all lonely sufferers, Christ Jesus. He who bore in awful solitude the horrors of Gethsemane’s midnight agony—the soul-torturing and the crushing physical pain, will understand full well my lonely suffering and, by His loving sympathy, soothe the hurts that sear my spirit.

Yes, life will have its suffering, for such is our lot here below, yet there will be sweetness mingled with the cup of bitterness whose dregs I must drain if only I drink it with Jesus as He drinks, in lonely abandonment, Gethsemane’s chalice of untellable woe.

O Sweetest Heart of Jesus, I implore that I may ever love You more and more.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL:  Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  Phil. 2: 5-11

The triumph of the Redeemer of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, must be preceded by “His humiliation unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Brethren, let this mind be in you which was also in Jesus Christ: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and inhabit found as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

GOSPEL  (At blessing of Palms):  Mt. 21: 1-9

Triumphant entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.

At that time, when Jesus drew nigh to Jerusalem, and was come to Beth-phage, unto Mount Olivet, then He sent two disciples, saying to them: Go ye into the village that is over against you and immediately you shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them and bring them to Me. And if any man shall say anything to you, say ye that the Lord hath need of them, and forthwith he will let them go. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: Tell ye the daughter of Sion: Behold thy King cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of her that is used to the yoke. And the disciples going did as Jesus commanded them. And they brought the ass and the colt, and laid their garments upon them, and made Him sit thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way, and others cut boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way, and the multitudes that went before and that followed cried, saying: Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.

THE ACCEPTABLE TIME 

“Now is the acceptable time.” What wisdom in the words! Procrastination is a disastrous thing even in the ordinary walks of daily life, but in the spiritual life it can be an irreparable catastrophe.

How swiftly life’s precious minutes speed by to lose themselves in an endless eternity! And each precious minute as it wings its fleeting way goes richly laden with golden opportunities of wondrous worth. And is it not greatly to be feared that for some of us at least many of those golden opportunities are lost irretrievably because of our procrastinating spirit?

Oh, yes, indeed, we tell ourselves, we will begin that life of greater holiness, that life of generosity with God; that life of otherworldliness and mortification and prayer. We will, yes, but like the young man of the Gospel who would go first and bury his father and then come and follow Jesus, so, too, we plead for delay—we ask God to wait. Tomorrow, yes, we promise it, shall see us setting bravely, boldly forth on the glorious quest for sanctity.

Tomorrow! Fatal word! Tomorrow, then again tomorrow, and all the while, with lightning speed, the precious present which alone holds possibility for actual accomplishment, flashes by bearing away forever graces that, if used, would have made saints of us!

“Now is the acceptable time.” The acceptable time to cleanse my soul of the stains of sin, to speak the pardoning word, to repair the injury done, to set aright my every account with God and man.

“Now is the acceptable time.” Oh, let us seize upon that precious now lest tomorrow be a time of bitter, useless regretting.

O Sweetest Heart of Jesus, I implore that I may ever love You more and more.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL:  Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  Jer. 18:18-23

Jeremias anathematizes “those who invent devices against the just.”

 In those days the wicked Jews said one to another: Come, and let us invent devices against the just: for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the tongue and let us give no heed to all his words. Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries. Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit for my soul? Remember that I have stood in Thy sight, to speak good for them, and to turn away Thine indignation from them. Therefore deliver up their children to famine, and bring them into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of children, and widows: and let their husbands be slain by death: let their young men be stabbed with the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard out of their houses, for Thou shalt bring the robber upon them suddenly: because they have digged a pit to take me, and have hid snares for my feet. But Thou, O Lord, knowest all their counsel against me unto death: forgive not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from Thy sight. Let them be overthrown before Thine eyes, in the time of Thy wrath do Thou destroy them, O Lord our God.

GOSPEL:  Jn. 12: 10-36 

Jesus, acclaimed by the crowd, foretells His Passion.

At that time the chief priests thought to kill Lazarus also, for many of the Jews by reason of him went away and believed in Jesus. And on the next day a great multitude that was come to the festival day, when they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried: Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. And Jesus found a young ass, and sat upon it, as it is written: Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh sitting on the colt of an ass. These things His disciples did not know at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. The multitude therefore gave testimony, which was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the grave, and raised him from the dead. For which reason also the people came to meet Him: because they heard that He had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves: Do you see that we prevail nothing? Behold the whole world is gone after Him. Now there were certain Gentiles among them, who came up to adore on the festival day. These therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying: Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew. Again Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them saying: The hour is come that the Son of man should be glori-fied. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, itself remaineth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world keepeth it unto life eternal. If any man minister to Me, let him follow Me: and where I am, there also shall My minister be. If any man minister to Me, him will My Father honor. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause I came unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name. A voice therefore came from heaven: I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude therefore that stood and heard said that it thundered. Others said: An angel spoke to Him. Jesus answered and said: This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself. (Now this He said, signifying what death He should die.) The multitude answered Him: We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest Thou: The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? Jesus therEfore said to them: Yet a little while the light is among you. Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not; and he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. Whilst you have the light, believe in the light: that you may be the children of light. These things Jesus spoke: and He went away, and hid Himself from them.

NOT I BUT CHRIST 

“I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me.” A strong statement, yet true on the lips of St. Paul, who had made himself so thoroughly one with Christ by perfect charity.

“Christ lives in me.” Would those words on my lips have as true a ring as when they were spoken by the Great Apostle?

“Christ lives in me.” In the attitude I bear toward life, in my estimation of values, the worth I set on the good things of time as measured against the things of eternity, would anyone knowing me intimately, judge that “Christ lives in me”?

The thoughts that habitually form the subject of my musings, the images that linger on the screen of my imagination, my hopes and plans and aspirations—are they always such as one would expect to find in him in whom “Christ lives”?

And when I come and go among my fellow men where the milling masses toil for daily bread or among the precious ones who gather with me about the family hearth, with strangers or with the dear ones who are a very part of my life, is all my conduct in every detail such as to make quite clearly manifest that the noble, gentle, kindly Christ lives in me?

“Christ lives in me.” Looks through my eyes? Or would He withdraw blushingly from things my eyes are not afraid to rest upon? Listens with my ears? Or would He turn aside from much in which I find delight? Speaks with my lips? Or would He not very, very often be still where I bandy words about thoughtlessly, sometimes mercilessly?

“Christ lives in me.” Could I honestly say that? I wonder.

O Sweetest Heart of Jesus, I implore that I may ever love You more and more.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL:  Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  Jer. 17:13-18 

The prophet foretells the sorrows and anguish of Jesus our Lord, Who feels Himself surrounded by such treacherous and relentless enemies.

In those days Jeremias said: O Lord, all that forsake Thee shall be confounded: they that depart from Thee shall be written in the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise. Behold they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come. And I am not troubled, following Thee for my pastor: and I have not desired the day of man, Thou knowest. That which went out of my lips hath been right in Thy sight. Be not Thou a terror unto me: Thou art my hope in the day of affliction. Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let me not be confounded: let them be afraid, and let me not be afraid. Bring upon them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction destroy them, O Lord our God.

GOSPEL:  Jn. 11: 47-54 

Sitting of the Sanhedrin at which the death of Jesus was irrevocably decreed by the Jewish leaders.

At that time the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council against Jesus, and said: What do we, for this man doth many miracles? If we let Him alone so, all will believe in Him: and the Romans will come, and take away our place and nation. But one of them, named Caiphas, being the High Priest that year, said to them: You know nothing, neither do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this he spoke not of himself: but being the High Priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but to gather together in one the children of God that were dispersed. From that day therefore they devised to put Him to death. Wherefore Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews: but He went into a country near the desert, unto a city that is called Ephrem, and there He abode with His disciples.

EVER NIGH 

One of the painful things that must accompany close friendship here below is the frequent unavoidable absence of the one we love. I cannot always have the comfort of my friend’s companionship. There must of necessity come times when duty shall set our feet on paths that lead in opposite directions, and then the absence of my friend is painful—his kindly smile, the clasp of his hand, his gentle voice that tells of a heart warm in its love for me. And how the hours drag until my friend returns again!

Yes, so it must ever be with my earthly friends. But oh, how good it is to know that it need not be so in my relations with my Divine Friend! Our paths need never part. Wherever my journey may lead, my Divine Friend, if I will only have it so, will walk by my side unfailingly, holding my hand in reassuring clasp. In the loneliness of separation from my other friends His blessed presence will be comfort all-sufficing. In the silence of all other voices His voice will sound within my soul in accents whose sweetness no human words can tell.

Ah no, there need not be the bitterness of solitary hours in my life with so dear a friend as my Divine Friend ever eager to be my close companion. There is no need to fear the day when all my other friends shall have been taken to a better world, no need to dread the solitary journey I also soon must make out of this world of time into eternity; no, forever by my side, infinitely gentle and loving, will stand my Divine Friend, Christ Jesus.

Dear Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL:  Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  Dan. 3:25, 34-45 

Daniel recalls the humiliation of the Israelites who were delivered to their enemies on account of their sins. Prayer of Azarias.

In those days Azarias prayed to the Lord, saying: O Lord our God: deliver us not up for ever, we beseech Thee, for Thy name’s sake, and abolish not Thy covenant: and take not away Thy mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham Thy beloved, and Isaac Thy servant, and Israel Thy holy one: to whom Thou hast spoken, promis-ing that Thou wouldst multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea shore: for we, O Lord, are diminished more than any nation, and are brought low in all the earth this day for our sins. Neither is there at this time prince, or leader, or prophet, or holocaust, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place of first-fruits before Thee, that we may find Thy mercy: nevertheless in a contrite heart and humble spirit let us be accepted. As in holocausts of rams, and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be made in Thy sight this day, that it may please Thee: for there is no confusion to them that trust in Thee. And now we follow Thee with all our heart, and we fear Thee, and seek Thy face. Put us not to confusion: but deal with us according to Thy meekness, and according to the multitude of Thy mercies. And deliver us according to Thy wonderful works, and give glory to Thy name, O Lord: and let all them be confounded that show evils to Thy servants, let them be confounded in all Thy might, and let their strength be broken: and let them know that Thou art the Lord the only God, and glorious over all the world, O Lord our God.

 GOSPEL:  Lk. 7: 36-50 

Conversion of Magdalen. Let us also weep for our sins.

At that time one of the Pharisees desired Jesus to eat with Him. And He went into the house of the Pharisee, and sat down to meat. And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that He sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment: and standing behind at His feet, she began to wash His feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And the Pharisee, who had invited Him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: This man, if He were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him: that she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said to him: Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee. And he said: Master, say it. A certain creditor had two debtors: the one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which therefore of the two loveth him most? Simon answering, said: He, I suppose, to whom he forgave more. And He said to him: Thou hast judged rightly. And turning to the woman, He said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet: but she with tears hath washed My feet, and hath wiped them with her hair. Thou gavest Me no kiss: but she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but she with ointment hath anointed My feet. Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. And He said to her: Thy sins are forgiven thee. And they that sat at meat with Him began to say within themselves: Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And He said to the woman: Thy faith has saved thee: go in peace.

KIND AND FORGIVING

Some good people have a highly developed sense of the fear of God. It is a wholesome thing, for, as the Holy Spirit reminds us, it is the “beginning of wisdom.” And yet, unbalanced by a lively appreciation of God’s fatherly kindness, it can have a very warping influence on our life as well as doing serious injustice to Him to whom the Psalmist addresses the beautiful words: “For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving and rich in mercy.”

Kind and forgiving! Yes, that is a perfect picture of the Gentle Master. When first He shows Himself to us in Bethlehem’s cave it is a little Babe we see, kind and forgiving, indeed, beyond all words to tell.

Kind and forgiving, He grew to lovely Boyhood by Mary’s side in hidden Nazareth.

Kind and forgiving, He walked the ways of Galilee, or on the hillsides taught the multitudes His saving truths, or healed the sick or gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb.

Kind and forgiving, He whispered soothing words to hearts that bled, or saving words of absolution over souls dyed scarlet with the stains of sin.

Kind and forgiving, He saw Himself despised and ridiculed; beheld the darkening cloud of hatred grow darker and finally break out into the storm that lashed and beat and buffeted till there was left no life in Him.

Our Gentle Master is kind and forgiving. So was it in those far-off days which saw the toils and sufferings of His mortal life, so it is now in these more wondrous days of tabernacled solitude when, to be close to us, He lives His kind, forgiving life of Eucharistic love.

And yet good people will hold back from Him in fear! Strange, is it not?

Jesus, Gentle Master, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL:  Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  Lev. 19: 1,2, 11-19 

The law of God Whose word is stable.

In those days the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: I am the Lord your God. You shall not steal. You shall not lie, neither shall any man deceive his neighbor. Thou shalt not swear falsely by My name, nor profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord. Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbor, nor oppress him by violence. The wages of him that hath been hired by thee shall not abide with thee until the morning. Thou shalt not speak evil of the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord. Thou shalt not do that which is unjust, nor judge unjustly. Respect not the per-son of the poor, nor honor the countenance of the mighty. But judge thy neighbor according to justice. Thou shalt not be a detractor, nor a whis-perer among the people. Thou shalt not stand by as thy neighbor’s blood is shed. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, if thou must reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy fellow countrymen. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord. Keep ye My laws. For I am the Lord your God.

GOSPEL:  Jn. 10: 22-38 

Obstinacy of the Jews in rejecting Jesus. The Sanhedrin hated our Lord and sought to stone Him. The Jews, rejecting the Pastor of their souls, are no longer His sheep, but the Gentiles, baptized or reconciled to God at the Easter Feast, are the sheep who hear His voice and to whom He gives eternal life.

At that time it was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem: and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. The Jews therefore came round about Him, and said to Him: How long dost Thou hold our souls in suspense? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them: I speak to you, and you believe not. The works that I do in the name of My Father, they give testimony of Me: but you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice: and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give them life everlasting: and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of My hand. That which My Father hath given Me is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of My Father. I and the Father are one. The Jews then took up stones to stone Him. Jesus answered them: Many good works I have showed you from My Father; for which of those works do you stone Me? The Jews answered Him: For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy: and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God. Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said, you are gods? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God was spoken, and the Scripture cannot be broken: do you say of Him Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest: because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though you will not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.