Friday, Third Week of Lent

Aderit in auxilio, filii: qui suae nos cupit prsestolari gloriam Passionis. Amen. our sake, will give strength to them that are fatigued. He that granted us to begin the past, will enable us to complete the future. Children ! He will be with us to assist us, who wishes us to hope for the glory of his Passion. Amen.

FKIDAY

OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

The Station is at the church of Saint Laurence in Lucina. In this venerable and celebrated church is kept the gridiron, on which the holy archdeacon consummated his martyrdom.

COLLECT

Jejunia nostra, quaesu- Let thy kind favour, 0 mus, Domine, benigno fa- Lord, accompany our fast, vore prosequere : ut, sicut that as we abstain from cor- ab alimentis abstinemus in poral food, so we may like- corpore, ita a vitiis jejune- wise refrain from all vice, mus in mente. Per Christum Through Christ our Lord.

Dominum nostrum. Amen. Amen.

EPISTLE

Lectio libri Numeri.

Cap. xx. In diebus illis : Convenerunt filii Israel adversum Moysen et Aaron: et versi in seditionem, dixerunt : Date nobis aquam, ut bibamus. Ingressusque Moyses et Aaron, dimissa multitudine,

Lesson from the Book of Numbers.

Ch. xx. In those days : The children of Israel came together against Moses and Aaron : and making a sedition they said : Give us water to drink. And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the

LENT tabernaculum foederis, cor- tabernacle of the covenant, ruerunt proni in terrain, cla- and fell flat upon the ground, maveruntque ad Dominum, and cried to the Lord and atque dixerunt: Domine said: 0 Lord God, hear the

Deus, audi clamorem hujus cry of this people, and open populi, et aperi eis thesaurum to them thy treasure, a tuum, fontem aquae vivae, ut fountain of living water, that satiati, cesset murmuratio being satisfied, they may eorum. Et apparuit gloria cease to murmur. And the

Domini super eos. Locutus- glory of the Lord appeared que est Dominus ad Moysen, over them And the Lord dicens : Tolle virgam, et con- spoke to Moses, saying : Take grega populum, tu et Aaron the rod, and assemble the frater tuus, et loquimini ad people together, thou and petram coram eis, et ilia da- Aaron thy brother, and speak bit aquas. Cumque eduxeris to the rock before them, and aquam de petra, bibet om- it shall yield waters. And nis multitudo, et jumenta when thou hast brought forth ejus. Tulit igitur Moyses water out of the rock, all the virgam, quae erat in con- multitude and their cattle spectu Domini, sicut praece- shall drink. Moses therefore perat ei, congregata multi- took the rod which was before tudine ante petram, dixit- the Lord, as he had com* que eis: Audite, rebelles et manded him, and having ga- increduli : num de petra thered together the multitude hac vobis aquam poterimus before the rock, he said to ejicere ? Cumque elevasset them : Hear, ye rebellious and

Moyses manum, percutiens incredulous ; can we bring you virga bis silicem, egressae forth water out of this rock ?

sunt aquae largissimae, ita And when Moses had lifted ut populus biberet, et ju- up his hand, and struck the menta. Dixitque Dominus rock twice with the rod, there ad Moysen et Aaron: Quia came forth water in great non credidistis mini, ut abundance, so that the people sanctificaretis me coram filiis and their cattle drank. And

Israel, non introducetis hos the Lord said to Moses and populos in terrain quam dabo Aaron : Because you have not eis. Haec est aqua contra- believed me, to sanctify me dictionis, ubi jurgati sunt filii before the children of Israel,

Israel contra Dominum, et you shall not bring these peo- sanctificatus est in eis. pie into the land which I will give them. This is the water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

Here we have one of the most expressive figures of the old Testament : it symbolizes the Sacrament of Baptism, for which our catechumens are now preparing. A whole people asks for water ; if it be denied them, they must perish in the wilderness. St. Paul, the sublime interpreter of the types of the old Testament, tells us that the rock is Christ, from whom came forth the fountain of living water, which quenches the thirst of our souls, and purifies them. The holy fathers observe that the rock yielded not its waters until it had been struck with the rod, which signifies the Passion of our Redeemer. The rod itself, as we are told by some of the earliest commentators of the Scriptures, is the symbol of the cross ; and the two strokes, wherewith the rock was struck, represent the two parts of which the cross was formed. The paintings which the primitive Church has left us in the catacombs of Rome, frequently represent Moses in the act of striking the rock, from which flows a stream of water ; arid a glass, found in the same catacombs, bears an inscription, telling us that the first Christians considered Moses as the type of St. Peter, who, in the new Covenant, opened to God's people the fountain of grace, when he preached to them on the day of Pentecost ; and gave also to the Gentiles to drink of this same water when he received Cornelius, the centurion, into the Church. This symbol of Moses striking the rock, and the figures of the old Testament which we have already come across, or shall still meet with, in the lessons given by the Church to the catechumens, are not only found in the earliest frescoes of the Roman catacombs, but we have numerous proofs that they were represented in all the Churches both of the east and of the west. Up to the thirteenth century and even later, we find them in the windows of our cathedrals, and in the traditional 1 1 Cor. x. 4.

LENT form or type which was given to them in the earlytimes. It is to be regretted that these Christian symbols, which were so dear to our Catholic forefathers, should now be so forgotten as to be almost treated with contempt. Let us love them, and, by the study of the holy liturgy, let us return to those sacred traditions, which inspired our ancestors with heroic faith, and made them undertake such grand things for God and for their fellow-men.

Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.

Cap. iv. In illo tempore : Venit Jesus in civitatem Samarise, quae dicitur Sichar, juxta prsedium quod dedit Jacob Joseph filio suo. Erat autem ibi fons Jacob. Jesus ergo fatigatus ex itinera, sedebat sic supra fontem. Hora erat quasi sexta. Venit mulier de Samaria haurire aquam. Dicit ei Jesus : Da mini bibere. (Discipuli enim ejus abierant in civitatem ut cibos emerent.) Dicit ergo ei mulier ilia Samaritana : Quomodo tu, Judseus cum sis, bibere a me poscis, quae sum mulier Samaritana ? Non enim coutuntur Judsei Samaritanis. Respondit Jesus, et dixit ei: Si scires donum Dei, et quis est qui dicit tibi : Da mihi bibere : tu forsitan petisses ab eo, et dedisset tibi aquam vivam. Dicit ei mulier: Domine, neque in quo haurias, habes, et puteus altus est: unde ergo habes aquam vivam ? Numquid tu

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.

Ch. iv.

At that time: Jesus came to a city of Samaria which is called Sichar, near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith to her : Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone into the city to buy meats. Then that Samaritan woman saith to him : How dost thou, being a Jew, ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman ? For the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans. Jesus answered, and said to her: If thou didst know the Gift of God, and who he is that saith to thee, Give me to drink : thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith to him : Sir, thou hast major es patre nostro Jacob, qui dedit nobis puteum, et ipse ex eo bibit, et filii ejus, et pecora ejus ? Respondit Jesus, et dixit ei : Omnia qui bibit ex aqua hac, sitiet iterum : qui autem biberit ex aqua, quam ego dabo ei, non sitiet in seternum ; sed aqua, quam ego dabo ei, fiet in eo fons aquae salientis in vitam seternam. Dicit ad eum mulier: Domine, da mini hanc aquam, ut non sitiam, neque yeniam hue haurire. Dicit ei Jesus: Vade, voca virum tuum, et veni hue. Respondit mulier, et dixit: Non habeo virum. Dicit ei Jesus : Bene dixisti, quia non habeo.virum : quinque enim viros habuisti, et nunc quern habes, non est tuus vir: hoc vere dixisti. Dicit ei mulier: Domine, video quia propheta es tu. Patres nostri in monte hoc adoraverunt, et vos dicitis, quia Jerosolymis est locus, ubi adorare oportet. Dicit ei Jesus: Mulier, crede mihi, quia venit hora, quando neque in monte hoc neque in Jerosolymis adorabitis Patrem. Vos adoratis quod nescitis: nos adoramus quod scimus, quia salus ex Judaeis est. Sed venit hora, et nunc est, quando veri adoratores adorabunt Patrem in spiritu et veritate. Nam et Pater tales queerit, qui adorent eum. Spiritus est Deus : et eos qui adorant eum, in spiritu et veritate oportet adorare. Dicit ei mulier: Scio quia Messias venit (qui dicitur Christus). Cum ergo venerit nothing wherein to draw, and the well is deep ; from whence then hast thou living water ? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his oattle ? Jesus answered, and said to her : Whosoever drink - eth of this water, shall thirst again : but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever. But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting. The woman saith to him: Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw. Jesus saith to her: Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered, and said : I have no husband. Jesus said to her : Thou hast said well, I have no husband; for thou hast had five husbands ; and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband. This thou hast said truly. The woman saith to him: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore. Jesus saith to her: Woman, believe me, that the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father. You adore that which you know not; we adore that which we know, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers

LENT ille, nobis annuntiabit omnia. Dicit ei Jesus : Ego sum, qui loquor tecum. Et continuo venerunt discipuli ejus : et mirabantur quia cum muliere loquebatur. Nemo tamen dixit : Quid queens, aut quid loqueris cum ea ? Reliquit ergo hydriam suam mulier, et abiit in civitatem, et dicit illis hominibus : Venite, et videte hominem qui dixit mihi omnia quaecumque feci : numquid ipse est Christus ? Exierunt ergo de civitate, et veniebant ad eum. Interea rogabant eum discipuli dicentes : Rabbi, manduca. Ille autem dicit eis : Ego cibum habeo manducare, quern vos nescitis. Dicebant ergo discipuli ad invicem : Numquid aliquis attulit ei manducare ? Dicit eis Jesus: Meus cibus est ut faciam voluntatem ejus qui misit me, ut perficiam opus ejus. Nonne vos dicitis, quod adhuc quatuor menses sunt, et messis venit ? Ecce dico vobis: Levate oculos vestros, et videte regiones, quia albas sunt jam ad messem. Et qui metit, mercedem accipit, et congregat fructum in vitam aeternam : ut et qui seminat, simul gaudeat, et qui metit. In hoc enim est verbum verum : quia alius est qui seminat, et alius est qui metit. Ego misi vos metere, quod vos non laborastis: alii laboraverunt, et vos in labores eorum introistis. Ex civitate autem ilia multi crediderunt in eum Samaritanorum, propter verbum mu- Jjeris testimonium perhi- shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him. God is a spirit ; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith to him : I know that the Messias cometh, who is called Christ ; therefore when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith to her: I am he, who am speaking with thee. And immediately his disciples came ; and they wondered that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said : What seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her ? The woman therefore left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men there : Come, and see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not he the Christ ? They went therefore out of the city, and came unto him. In the meantime the disciples prayed him, saying: Rabbi, eat. But he said to them: I have meat to eat which you know not. The disciples therefore said one to another: Hath any man brought him to eat ? Jesus saith to them : My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work. Do not you say, there are yet four months and then the harvest cometh ? Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the countries, for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit bentis : Quia dixit mihi omnia qusecumque feci. Cum venissent ergo ad ilium Samaritani, rogaverunt eum ut ibi maneret. Et mansit ibi duos dies. Et multo plures crediderunt in eum propter sermonem ejus. Et mulieri dice bant : Quia jam non propter tuam loquelam credimus : ipsi enim audivimus, et scimus quia hie est vere Salvator mundi. unto life everlasting ; that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For in this is the saying true : that it is one man that soweth, and it is another that reapeth. I have sent you to reap that in which you did hot labour; others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours. Now of that city many of the Samaritans believed in him, for the word of the woman giving testimony : He told me all things whatsoever I had done. So when the Samaritans were come to him, they desired him that he would tarry there. And he abode there two days. And many more believed in him because of his own word. And they said to the woman : We now believe, not for thy saying ; for we ourselves have heard him, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.

Our Gospel shows us the Son of God continuing the ministry of Moses, by revealing to the Samaritan woman, who represents the Gentiles, the mystery of the water that gives life everlasting. We find this subject painted on the walls of the catacombs, and carved on the tombs of the Christians, as far back as the fifth, and even the fourth century. Let us, then, meditate upon this event of our Lord's life, for it tells us of His wonderful mercy. Jesus is wearied with His journey; He, the Son of God, who had but to speak and the world was created, is fatigued seeking after His lost sheep. He is obliged to rest His wearied limbs ; He sits ; but it is near a well. He

LENT finds a Samaritan woman there ; she is a Gentile, an idolatress ; she comes to draw water from the well ; she has no idea of a water of eternal life : Jesus intends to reveal the mystery to her. He begins by telling her that He is tired and thirsty. A few days hence, when expiring on His cross, He will say : ' 1 thirst ' : and so now, He says to this woman : Give me to drink. So true is it that, in order to appreciate the grace brought us by our Redeemer, we must first know this Redeemer in His weakness and sufferings.

But before the woman has time to give Jesus what He asks, He tells her of a water, of which he that drinks shall not thirst for ever : He invites her to draw from a fountain, that springeth up into life everlasting. The woman longs to drink of this water; she knows not who He is that is speaking with her, and yet she has faith in what He says. This idolatress evinces a docility of heart, which the Jews never showed to their Messias; and she is docile, notwithstanding that He who speaks to her belongs to a nation which despises all Samaritans. The confidence wherewith she listens to Jesus is rewarded by His offering still greater graces. He begins by putting her to the test. Go, He says, call thy husband, and come hither. She was living in sin, and Jesus would have her confess it. She does so without the slightest hesitation ; her humility is rewarded, for she at once recognizes Jesus to be a Prophet, and she begins to drink of the living water. Thus was it with the Gentiles. The apostles preached the Gospel to them ; they reproached them with their crimes, and showed them the holiness of the God they had offended ; but the Gentiles did not therefore reject their teaching ; on the contrary, they were docile, and only wanted to know what they should do to render themselves pleasing to their Creator. The faith^had need of martyrs ; and they were found in abundance amidst these converts from paganism and its abominations.

Jesus seeing such simple-heartedness in the Samaritan, mercifully reveals to her who He is. He tells this poor sinner that the time has come when all men shall adore God ; He tells her that the Messias has come upon the earth, and that He Himself is that Messias. It is thus that Christ treats a soul that is simple and obedient. He shows Himself to her without reserve. When the disciples arrived, they wondered; they had as yet too much of the Jew in them ; they, therefore, could not understand how their Master could show anything like mercy to this Samaritan. But the time will soon come, when they will say with the great apostle St. Paul : * There is neither Jew nor Greek ; there is neither bond nor free ; there is neither male nor female ; for all are one in Christ Jesus.'1

Meanwhile, the Samaritan becomes an apostle, for she is filled with heavenly ardour. She leaves her pitcher at the well : what cares she for its water, now that Jesus has given her to drink of the living water ? She goes back to the city ; but it is that she may preach Jesus there, and bring to Him, if she can, all the inhabitants of Samaria. In her humility, she gives this proof of His being a great Prophet : that He has told her all the sins of her life ! These pagans, whom, the Jews despised, hasten to the well, where Jesus has remained speaking to His disciples on the coming harvest. They acknowledge Him to be the Messias, the Saviour of the world; and Jesus condescends to abide two days in this city, where there was no other religion than that of idolatry, with a fragment here and there of some Jewish practice. Tradition tells us that the name of the Samaritan woman was Photina. She and the Magi were the first-fruits of the new people of God. She suffered i Gal. iii. 28.

LENT martyrdom for Him who revealed Himself to her at Jacob's well. The Church honours her memory each year, in the Roman martyrology, on March 20.

Humiliate capita vestra Deo.

Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut qui in tua protectione confidimus, cuncta nobis adversantia, te adjuvante, vincamus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Bow down your heads to God.

Grant, we beseech thee, 0 almighty God, that we who confide in thy protection, may, through thy grace, overcome all the enemies of our salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Mozarabic liturgy celebrates the vocation of the Samaritan woman in the following beautiful Preface :

ILLATIO

(In Dominica I.

Dignum et justum est nos tibi semper gratias agere, Domine sancte, Pater reterne, omnipotens Deus, per Jesum Christum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum. Qui ad salvationem humani generis veniens e ccelo : sitiens atque fatigatus sedisse ad puteum dicitur. Ille etenim in quo omnis plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter permanebat : quia nostra mortalitatis corpus a8sumpserat : veritatem assumptae carnis quibusdam significationibus demonstrabat. Fatigatum enim eum non aliter credimus ab itinere, nisi infirmatum in carne. Exivit quippe ad currendam viam, per significationem carnis assumptae ; ideo igitur etsi fatigatus ille in carne, non tamen nos sinit infirmari in sua

Quadragesima)

It is meet and just that we should always give thanks to thee, 0 holy Lord, eternal Father, almighty God, through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Who, having come from heaven for the salvation of mankind, sat near a well, thirsting and wearied. For this is he, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead corporally. But whereas he had assumed the body of our mortality, he wished to show, by certain signs, the reality of the flesh thus assumed ; for when we say that he was wearied with a journey, we believe that this weakness was only in the flesh. He went forth to run the way, that he might show that he had taken a true body ; hence, although he was wearied in the flesh, yet would he not that our infirmitate. Nam quod infirmum est illius, fortius est hominibus. Ideoque per humilitatem veniens eripere mundum a po testate tenebrarum : sedit et sitivit quando aquam mulieri petivit. Hie etenim humiliatus erat in came : quando sedens ad puteum loquebatur cum muliere : sitivit aquam, et exegit fidem ab ea. In ea quippe muliere, fidem quam quaesivit, quamque petivit, exegit : atque venientibus dicit de ea discipulis: Ego cibum habeo manducare quern yos nescitis. Ille jam qui in ea creaverat fidei donum: ipse poscebat aquae sibi ab ea porrigi potum. Quique earn dilectionis suae flamma cremabat : ipse ab ea poculum quo refrigeraretur sitiens postulabat. Ob hoc nos ad ista tantarum virtutum miraeula quid apponemus, sancte et immaculate et piisime Deus: nisi conscientiam mundam et voluntatem dilectioni tuae omni modo praeparatam ? Tuo igitur nomini offerentes victimam mundam : rogamus atque exposcimus: ut opereris in nobis salutem: sicut in muliere ilia operatus es fidem. Operare in nobis extirpationem carnalium vitiorum, qui in ilia idololatriae pertulisti figmentum. Sentiamus quoque te in ilia futura examinatione mitissimum : sicut ilia te promeruit in venire plaoatum. Opus enim tuum sumus: faith should grow weak at the sight of this his weakness ; for that which is weak in him, is stronger than men. Having, therefore, come in humility, that he might deliver the world from the power of darkness, he sat and thirsted, when he asked the woman to give him to drink. For he was humbled in the flesh, when, sitting at the well, he spoke with the woman, and thirsted after water, and required of her her faith. Yea, he required from her the faith, which he sought and asked for; and when his disciples came he said to them concerning it: I have meat to eat which you know not of. He that had already created in her the gift of faith, asked her to give him water to drink: and he that had enkindled within her the fire of his love, asked her to give him a cup, whereby to refresh his thirst. Seeing these miracles of divine power, what else shall we offer unto thee, 0 holy and immaculate and most merciful God, but a pure conscience and a heart that is well prepared to receive thy love ? Now, therefore, whilst offering to thy name this clean oblation, we pray and beseech thee, that thou mayst work salvation in us, as thou didst work faith in that woman. Thou didst destroy in her the delusion of idolatry ; produce in us the extirpation of our carnal vices. May we find thee full of most tender mercy when thou comest to

LENT qui nisi per te salvari non possumus. Subveni nobis, vera redemptio : pietatis indeficiens plenitude Non perdas quod tuum est: quibus dedisti rationis naturam, da seternitatis gloriam indefessam. Ut qui te in hac vita laudamus, in aeterna quoque beatitudine multo magis glorificemus. Tu es enim Deus noster: non nos abjicias a facie tua : sed jam respice quos creasti miseratione gratuita : ut cum abstuleris a nobis omne debitum culpaa: et placitos reddideris aspectibus gratiaB tuaB: eruti ab ilia noxialis putei profunditate facinorum, nydriam nostrarum relinquentes cupiditatum, ad illam seternam civitatem Hierusalem post hujus vita transitum convolemus. judge us, as she deserved to find thee. We are the work of thy hands, neither can we be otherwise saved than by thee. Come to our assistance, 0 thou our true Redeemer, the fulness of whose mercy faileth not. Destroy not what is thine own. Thou hast given us a rational nature ; bestow upon us exhaustless glory of eternity, that so we who praise thee in this life, may still more fervently glorify thee in a blessed eternity. Thou art our God ; cast us not away from thy face, but look upon us, whom thou didst create out of thy pure mercy : that when thou hast taken from us the whole debt of our guilt, and rendered us worthy of thy gracious sight, we, being drawn out from the deep well of our sins, and leaving behind us the pitcher of our evil desires, may, after passing through this life, take our flight to Jerusalem, the eternal city.