Monday Op the Third Week Op Lent

The Station is in the church of Saint Mark, which was built in the fourth century in honour of the evangelist, by the holy Pope Mark, whose relics are kept there.

COLLECT

Cordibus nostris, quaesumus, Domine, gratiam tuam benignus infunde ; ut sicut ab escis carnalibus abstinemus, ita sensus quoque stros a noxiis retrahamus all noxious excessibus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

We beseech thee, 0 Lord, mercifully to pour forth thy grace into our hearts ; that, as we abstain from flesh, so no- we may keep our senses from excesses. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lectio libri Regum.

IV. Cap. v. In diebus illis: Naaman princeps militiae regis Syriae, erat vir magnus apud dominum suum, et honoratus: per ilium enim dedit Dominus salutem Syriae : erat autem vir fortis et dives, sed leprosus. Porro de Syria egressi fuerant latruncuU, et captivam duxerant de terra Israel puellam parvulam, quae erat in obsequio uxoris Naaman. Quae ait ad dominam suam : Utinam fuisset dominus meus ad prophetam, qui est in Samaria : profecto curasset eum a lepra quam habet.

Lesson from the Book of Kings.

IV. Ch. v. In those days: Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable : for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria ; and he was a valiant man and rich, but a leper. Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman 's wife. And she said to her mistress : I wish my master had been with the prophet that is in Samaria ; he would certainly have healed him of the le-

LENT

Ingressus est itaque Naaman prosy which he hath. Then ad dominum suum, et nun- Naaman went in to his lord, tiavit ei, dicens : Sic et sic and told him, saying : Thus locuta est puella de terra and thus said the girl from

Israel. Dixitque ei rex Sy- the land of Israel And the ras ad regem Israel. Qui and I will send a letter to the cum profectus esset, et tu- king of Israel. And he de- lisset secum decern talenta parted, and took with him argenti, et sex millia aureos, ten talents of silver, and six et decern mutatoria vesti- thousand pieces of gold, and mentorum, detulit Utteras ad ten changes of raiment, and regem Israel, in haec verba: brought the letter to the

Cum acceperis epistolam king of Israel, in these words : banc, scito quod miserim ad When thou shalt receive this te Naaman servum meum, letter, know that I have sent ut cures eum a lepra sua. to thee Naaman my servant,

Cumque legisset rex Israel that thou mayest heal him litteras, soidit vestimenta of his leprosy. And when sua, et ait: Numquid Deus the king of Israel had read ego sum, ut occidere possim the letter, he rent his gar- et vivificare, quia iste misit ments, and said : Am I God, ad me, ut curem hominem to be able to kill and to give a lepra sua ? Animadver- life, that this man hath sent tite et videte quod occasi- to me, to heal a man of his ones quserat adversum me. leprosy ? Mark, and see how

Quod cum audisset Elisaeus he seeketh occasions against vir Dei, scidisse videlicet me. And when Eliseus the regem Israel vestimenta sua, man of God had heard this, misit ad eum dicens : Quare to wit, that the king of Israel scidisti vestimenta tua ? had rent his garments, he

Veniat ad me, et sciat esse sent to him, saying: Why prophetam in Israel. Venit hast thou rent thy garments ?

ergo Naaman cum equis et Let him come to me, and let curribus, et stetit ad ostium him know that there is a domus Elisaei: misitque ad prophet in Israel. So Naa- eum Elisaeus nuntium, di- man came with his horses cens: Vade, et lava re sep- and chariots, and stood at ties in Jordane, et recipiet the door of the house of sanitatem caro tua, atque Eliseus ; and Eliseus sent a mundaberis. Iratus Naa- messenger to him, saying: man recedebat, dicens : Pu- Go, and wash seven times in tabam quod egrederetur ad the Jordan, and thy flesh me, et stans invocaret no- shall recover health, and thou men Domini Dei sui, et shalt be clean. Naaman was tangeret manu sua locum angry, and went away say- leprae et curaret me. Num- ing : I thought he would have rise: Vade, et mittam litte- king of Syria said to him : Go,

MONDAY, THIRD WEEK OP LENT quid non meHores sunt Abana et Pharphar, fluvii Damasci, omnibus aquis Israel, ut layer in eis et munder ? Cum ergo vertisset se, et abiret indignans, acoesserunt ad eum servi sui, et k>cuti sunt ei: Pater, et si rem grandem dixisset tibi Propheta, certe faoere debueras: quanto magis quia nunc dixit tibi: Lavare, et mundaberis ? Desoendit, et lavit in Jordane septies juxta sermonem viri Dei, et restituta est caro ejus, sicut caro pueri parvuli, et mandatus est. Beversusque ad virum Dei oum universo comitatu suo, venit, et stetit coram eo, et ait: Vere scio quod non sit alius Deus in universa terra, nisi tantum in Israel. come out to me, and standing, would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me. Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made clean ? So as he turned, and was going away with indignation, his servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it ; how much rather what he now . hath said to thee : Wash and thou shalt be clean ? Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean. And returning to the man of God with all his train, he came and stood before him, and said: In truth I know there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel

Yesterday the Church made known to our catechumens that the day of their Baptism was at hand ; to-day she reads them a passage from the old Testament, which relates a history that admirably symbolizes the saving font prepared for them by divine mercy. Naaman's leprosy is a figure of sin. There is but one cure for the loathsome malady of the Syrian officer : he must go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and he shall be made clean. The Gen-

LENT tile, the infidel, the infant with its stain of original sin, all may be made just and holy ; but this can be effected only by water and the invocation of the blessed Trinity. Naaman objects to the remedy, as being too simple ; he cannot believe that one so insignificant can be efficacious : he refuses to try it ; he expected something more in accordance with reason, for instance, a miracle that would have done honour both to himself and to the prophet. This was the reasoning of many a Gentile, when the apostles went about preaching the Gospel ; but they that believed, with simple-hearted faith, in the power of water sanctified by Christ, received regeneration ; and the baptismal font created a new people, composed of all nations of the earth. Naaman, who represents the Gentiles, was at length induced to believe ; and his faith was rewarded by a complete cure. His flesh was restored like that of a little child, which has never suffered taint or disease. Let us give glory to God, who has endowed water with the heavenly power it now possesses ; let us praise Him for the wonderful workings of His grace, which produce in docile hearts that faith whose recompense is so magnificent.

GOSPEL

Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam.

Cap. iv. In illo tempore : Dixit Jesus pharisseis: Utique dicetis mihi hanc similitudinem : Medice, cura teipsum : quanta audivimus facta in Capharnaum, fac et hie in patria tua. Ait autem : Amen dico vobis, quia nemo propheta acceptus est in patria sua. In veritate dico vobis, multse viduae erant in diebus Eliee in Israel, quando

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Ch. iv.

At that time : Jesus said to the pharisees : Doubtless you will say to me this similitude : Physician, heal thyself ; as great things as we have heard done in Capharnaum, do also here in thy own country. And he said : Amen, I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country. In truth, I say to you, there were many widows in the

MONDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT clausum est coelum annis tribus et mensibus sex, cum facta esset fames magna in omni terra : et ad nullam illarum missus est Elias, nisi in Sarephta Sidoniae ad mulierem viduam. Et multi leprosi erant in Israel sub Elisaeo propheta: et nemo eorum mundatus est, nisi Naaman Syrus. Et repleti sunt omnes in synagoga ira, haec audientes. Et surrexerunt et ejecerunt ilium extra civitatem: et duxerunt ilium usque ad supercilium montis, super quern civitas illorum erat SBdificata, ut praecipitarent eum. Ipse autem transiens per medium illorum, ibat. days of Elias in Israel, when heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there was a great famine throughout all the earth : and to none of them was Elias sent, but to Sarephta of Sidon, to a widow woman. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet ; and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, hearing these things, were filled with anger, and they rose up and thrust him out of the city; and they brought him to the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.

Here, again, we find our Saviour proclaiming the mystery of the Gentiles being called to take the place of the incredulous Jews ; and He mentions Naaman as an example of this merciful substitution. He also speaks, in the same seijse, of the widow of Sarephta, whose history we had a few days ago. This terrible resolution of our Lord to transfer His light from one people to another, irritates the pharisees of Nazareth against the Messias. They know that Jesus, who has only just commenced His public life, has been working great miracles in Capharnaum : they would have Him honour their own little city in the same way ; but Jesus knows that they would not be converted. Do these people of Nazareth so much as know Jesus ? He has lived among them for eighteen years, during all which time He has been advancing in wisdom and age and grace before God and men ;J 1 St. Luke ii. 62.

LENT but they despise Him, for He is a poor man, and the son of a carpenter. They do not even know that though He has passed so many years among them, He was not born in their city, but in Bethlehem. Not many days before this, Jesus had gone into the synagogue of Nazareth, and had explained, with marvellous eloquence and power, the Prophet Isaias ; He told His audience that the time of mercy had come, and His discourse excited much surprise and admiration. But the pharisees of the city despised His words. They have heard that He has been working great things in the neighbourhood ; they are curious to see one of His miracles ; but Jesus refuses to satisfy their unworthy desire. Let them recall to mind the discourse made by Jesus in their synagogue, and tremble at the announcement He then made to them, that the Gentiles were to become God's chosen people. But the divine Prophet is not accepted in His own country ; and had He not withdrawn Himself from the anger of His compatriots of Nazareth, the Blood of the Just would have been shed that very day. But there is an unenviable privilege which belongs exclusively to Jerusalem : a prophet cannot perish out of Jerusalem !

Humiliate capita vestra Bow down your heads to Deo. God.

Subveniat nobis, Domine, May thy mercy, 0 Lord, misericordia tua : ut ab assist us, that by thy protec- imminentibus peccatorum tion we may be delivered nostrorum pericuHs, te me- from the dangers of sin that reamur protegente, eripi, surround us, and so brought te liberante, salvari. Per to eternal happiness. Through

Christum Dominum no- Christ our Lord. Amen, strum. Amen.

Let us, on this day, offer to God the following solemn supplication, taken from the Gothic missal.

1 St. Luke iv. 16-22. 2 Ibid. xiii. 33.

SUPPLICATION

(In Dominica III

Bogamus te, Bex sseculorum, Deus sancte jam miserere ; peccavimus tibi.

V. Audi clamantes, Pater altissime, et quae precamur, clemens attribue : exaudi nos Domine.

R. Jam miserere.

V. Bone Bedemptor, supplices quaesumus de toto corde flentes ; requirimus, adsiste propitius.

R. Jam miserere.

V. Emitte manum, Deus omnipotens, et invocantes potenter protege ex alto, piissime.

R. Jam miserere.

V. FertiMtatem et pacem tribue: remove bella, et famem cohibe, Bedemptor sanotissime.

R. Jam miserere.

V. Indulge lapsis ; indulge perditis; dimitte noxia: ablue crimina ; acclines tu libera.

2?/ Jam miserere.

Quadragesima )

We beseech thee, O King eternal ! O holy God ! hare mercy now upon us, for we have sinned against thee.

V. Hear our cry, O Father, most high God ! and mercifully grant us our requests. Graciously hear us, O Lord!

R. Have mercy now upon us.

V. 0 good Bedeemer ! we suppliantly beseech thee, and with our whole heart we pour out our tears before thee. We seek after thee; be propitious, and show thyself unto us.

R. Have mercy now upon us.

V. Stretch forth thy hand, O almighty God ! and, in thy exceeding goodness, powerfully protect us from on high.

R. Have mercy now upon us.

V. Grant us fertility and peace, O most holy Bedeemer ! Drive wars away from us, and deliver us from famine.

R. Have mercy now upon us.

V. Grant pardon to the fallen : pardon them that have gone astray ; forgive us our sins; cleanse us from our iniquities ; , deliver us who are here prostrate before thee.

R. Have mercy now upon us.

LENT

V. Gemitus vide : fletus intellige : extende manum : peccantes redime.

R. Jam miserere.

V. Hanc nostram, Deus, hanc pacem suscipe : supplicum voces placatus suscipe : et parce, piissime.

R. Rogamus te, Rex saeculorum, Deus sancte jam miserere: peccavimus tibi.

V. See our sighing ; hear our weeping ; stretch forth thy hand : redeem us sinners.

R, Have mercy now upon us.

V. Receive, O God, receive this our prayer for reconciliation ; be appeased, and receive the petition of thy suppliants ; and spare us, 0 most loving God !

R. We beseech thee, O King eternal ! 0 holy God ! have mercy now upon us, for we have sinned against thee.