Maundy Thursday : Evening

Adesto, Domine qusesumus, officio servitutis nostras: et quia tu discipulis tuis pedes lavare dignatus es, ne despicias opera manuum tuarum, quae nobis retinenda mandasti: ut sicut hie nobis, et a nobis exteriora abluuntur inquinamenta, sic a te omnium nostrum interiora laventur peccata. Quod ipse praestare digneris, qui vivis et regnas Deus per omnia ssecula ssbculorum.

Hp. Amen. f . The Lord be with you. I£. And with thy spirit.

LET US PRAY

Accept, O Lord, we beseech thee, this duty of our service, and since thou didst vouchsafe to wash the feet of thy disciples, despise not the work of thy hands, which thou hast commanded us to imitate: that as here the outward stains are washed away by us and from us, so the inmost sins of us all may be blotted out by thee. Which be thou pleased to grant, who livest and reignest one God for ever and ever. fy. Amen.

THE OFFICE OF TENEBBJE

At a late hour in the afternoon, the night Office of Good Friday is anticipated, as* was done yesterday. The faithful repair to the church at. the time specified. Let them remember that the bells are not rung from this till Saturday.

The Office of TenebrsB for Good Friday is given below, page 413.

THE EVENING

Judas has left the oenaole, and, profiting by the darkness, has reached the place where the enemies of his Saviour are assembled. Jesus then turns to His faithful apostles, and says to them: i Now is the Son of Man glorified.' 1 Yes, His Passion is to be followed

1 St. John ziii. 31.

PASSIONTIDE A.ND HOLY WEEK by triumph and glory ; and the Passion has already begun, for Judas has oommenoed his work of betraying Him. Meanwhile, the apostles, forgetting the trouble into whioh they had been thrown by Jesus' telling them that one of the twelve was about to betray Him, begin to dispute among themselves, whioh of them should seem to be greater. They have not forgotten the words spoken by Jesus to Peter, when He made him the rook on which He would build His Church; and here at the supper, they have seen the divine Master wash the feet of Peter first. On the other hand, John's affectionate familiarity with Jesus, during this same supper, has made some of them argue that he who was most loved would be most honoured.

J esus puts an end to this dispute, by giving to these future pastors of His Church a lesson of humility. There shall, it is true, be a head among them, but, says our Redeemer, Met him that is the greater among you, become as the younger; and he that is the leader, as he that serveth'. He bids them look at Him: He is their Master, and yet, says He, ' I am in the midst of you, as he that serveth'. Then turning towards Peter, He thus addresses him: 'Simon, Simon! behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being onoe converted, confirm thy brethren'. This last interview is, as it were, our Saviour's testament ; He provides for His Churoh, before leaving her. The apostles are to be Peter's brethren, but Peter is to be their head. This sublime dignity is to be enhanoed by the humility of him that enjoys it: he shall be 'the servant of the servants of God.' The apostolic college is to be exposed to the fury of hell ;

1 St. Luke xxii. 24. *Ibid. 26, 27. 8 Ibid. 31, 32. but Peter alone is to confirm his brethren in the faith. His teaohing shall ever be conformable to divine truth; it shall ever be infallible: Jesus has prayed that it may be so. Such a prayer is all-powerful ; and thereby, the Church, ever docile to the voioe of Peter, shall for ever maintain the doctrine of Christ.

Jesus, after having provided for the future of His Churoh by the words He addressed to Peter, thus speaks affectionately to all the eleven : * Little ohildren! yet a little while I am with you. Love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another.' Peter says to him: 'Lord! whither goest Thou?' '"Whither I go', answers Jesus, 'thou canst not now follow Me; but thou shalt follow hereafter*. 'Why cannot I follow thee now?' again asks Peter: 'I will lay down my life for Thee. 'Wilt thou/ replies Jesus, 'lay down thy life for Me P Amen, amen, I say to thee: the cook shall not crow, till thou deny Me thrice'. Peter's love for Jesus had too muoh of the human about it, for it was not based on humility. Presumption comes from pride: it almost always results in a fall. In order to prepare Peter for his future ministry of pardon, as also to give us a useful lesson, God permits that he, who was soon to be made prince of the apostles, should fall into a most grievous and humiliating sin.

But let us return to the instructions contained in the last words spoken by our Jesus before He leaves His disciples. ' I am,' says He, ' the way, the truth, and the life. If you love Me, keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever. I will not leave you orphans ; I will come to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. 1 St. John xiii. 33-S8.

Let not jour heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. If you loved Me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father. I will not now speak many things with you, for the prinoe of this world oometh, and in Me he hath not anything. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father hath given Me commandment, so do I: arise, let us go hence.' 1 Deeply impressed by these words, the disoiples arise, and, after the hymn of thanksgiving has been said, they accompany Jesus to Mount Olivet.

He continues His instructions as they go along. He takes occasion from their passing by a vine to speak of the effect produced by divine grace, in the soul of man. i I am the true vine/ He says, ' and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away, and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branoh cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine; so neither oan you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches: he that abidetb in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you oan do nothing. If any one abideth not in Me, he shall be oast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. You have not chosen Me: but I have chosen you, and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain.'2

He next speaks to them of the persecutions that await them, and of the hatred the world will have of them. He renews the promise He had made them of the holy Spirit, the Comforter, and tells them that it is to their advantage that He Himself should

1 St. John xiv. a Ibid. xv. leave them. He assures them that they shall obtain whatever they ask of the Father in His name. 1 The Father/ He adds, 'loveth you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came from God. I come forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and I go to the Father.' The disoiples say to Him: ' Now we know that Thou knowest all things, and Thou needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou earnest forth from God.' ' Do you now believe ?' answers Jesus: i Behold ! the hour cometh, and it is now come, that you shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone. All you shall be scandalized in Me this night ; for it is written: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flook shall be dispersed." But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.'2

Peter again protests that he will be faithful to his Master ; the rest may abandon Him, if they will, but he will keep with Him to the last ! It should, indeed, be so, for he has reoeived so much more from Jesus than the others have: but he is again humbled by being told of his ooming speedy fall. Jesus then oalmly raising up his eyes to heaven, says: * Father ! the hour is come ; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee. I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do ; I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou hast given Me. They have known that I oame out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them ; I pray not for the world. And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father ! keep them in Thy name, whom Thou hast given Me ; that they may be one, as We also are. i St. John xri. > St. Matt. xxvi. 31, 32.

PA88IONTIDB AND HOLY WEEK

While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name. Those whom Thou gavest Me, have I kept ; and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture may be fulfilled. I have given them Thy word ; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, as I also am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil. Not for them only do I pray, but for them also who, through their word, shall believe in Me: that they all may be one, as Thou, Father! in Me, and I in Thee: that they also may be one in Us: that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me. Father, I will that where I am, they also, whom Thou hast given Me, may be with Me ; that they may see the glory which Thou hast given Me, because Thou hast loved Me before the oreation of the world. Just Father ! the world hath not known Thee ; but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have made known Thy name to them, and will make it known, that the love, wherewith Thou hast loved Me, may be in them, and I in them/1

Suoh are the out-pourings of the loving Heart of of our Jesus, as He crosses the brook of Oedron, and ascends, with His disciples the Mount of Olives. Having come as far as Gethsemani, He goes into a garden, whither He had often led His apostles and rested there with them. Suddenly, His Soul is overpowered with grief ; His human Nature experiences, as it were, a suspension of that beatitude which results from its union with the Divinity. This His Humanity will be interiorly supported, even to the very last moment of His Passion ; but it must bear everything that it is possible for it to bear. Jesus feels suoh intense sadness, that the very presence of

1 (3t John xvii.

His disoiples is insupportable ; He leaves them, taking with Him only Peter, James, and John, who, a short time before, had been witnesses of His glorious Transfiguration:— will they show greater oourage than the rest, when they see their divine Master in the hands of His enemies? His words show them what a sudden change has come over Him. He whose language was, a few moments before, so calm, His look so serene, and His tone of voioe so sweet, now says to them: 'My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here, and watch with Me.'1

He leaves them, and goes to a grotto, which is about a stone's throw distant. Even to this day it exists, perpetuating the memory of the terrible event. There does our Jesus prostrate Himself and pray saying: 'Father! all things are possible to Thee. Remove this chalice from Me: — but not what I will, but what Thou wilt.'2 While He is thus praying, a sweat of Blood flows from His Body and bathes the ground. It is not merely a swooning, it is an agony, that He suffers. God sends help to His sinking frame, and it is an angel that is entrusted with the office. Jesus is treated as man ; His Humanity, exhausted as it is, is to receive no other sensible aid than that which is now brought Him by an angel (whom tradition affirms to have been Gabriel). Hereupon He rises, and again accepts the chalice prepared for Him. But what a chalice! Every pain that body and soul can suffer; the sins of the whole world taken upon Himself, and crying out vengeance against Him ; the ingratitude of men, many of whom will make His sacrifice useless: Jesus has to accept all this, and at the very time when He seems to be left to His human Nature. The power of the Divinity, whioh is in Him, supports Him: but it does

1 |3t. Matt. xxyi. 38. » St. Mark xiy. 36, not prevent Him from feeling every suffering, just as though He had been mere Man. He begins His prayer by asking that the chalice may be taken from Him: He ends it by saying to His Father: 'Not My will, but Thine be done ! ' 1

Jesus then rises, leaving the earth covered with the Blood of His agony: it is the first bloodshedding of His Passion. He goes to His three disciples, and, finding them asleep, says to them:' What ! could you not watch one hour with Me P >a This is the beginning of that feature of His sufferings which consists in His being abandoned. He twice returns to the grotto, and repeats His sorrowful, but submissive, prayer; twice He returns to His disoiples, whom He had asked to watch near Him, but at eaoh time finds them asleep. At length, He speaks to them saying: 'Sleep ye now, and take your rest ! Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners. 9 Then resuming the energy of His divine courage, He adds: 'Bise! let us go! Behold, he is at hand that will betray Me.'8

While He is speaking these last few words, a numerous body of armed men enter the garden with torches in their hands. Judas is at their head. The betrayal is made by a profanation of the sign of friendship. 'Judas! dost thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss PM These pieroing words should have made the traitor throw himself at his Master's feet, and ask pardon ; but it was too late: he feared the soldiers, feut the servants of the highpriest cannot lay hands on Jesus, unless He, their Yiotim, permit them to do so. With a single word, He casts them prostrate on the ground. Then permitting them to rise, He says to them with all the majesty of a King: ' If you

1 St. Luke xadi. 42. * St. Matt. xxyi. 40. *Ibid. 45, 46, 4j3t.Lukexxii.48,

MATOPT THURSDAY: EVENIKG seek He, let these go their way. You are come out, as it were against a thief with swords and clubs. When I was daily with you in the temple, you did not stretch forth your hands against Me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness/ Then turning to Peter, who has drawn and used his sword, He says to him: 'Thinkest thou that I cannot ask My Father, and He will give Me presently twelve legions of angels ? How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled P'1

And now, Jesus permits Himself to be led. Whereupon, His apostles run away in fear. Peter and another disciple follow Him, but as far off as they oan. The soldiers lead Jesus by the same road, along which He had passed on the previous Sunday, when the people met Him with palm and olive branches in their hands. They cross the brook Oedron ; and there is a tradition of the Church of Jerusalem that the soldiers, as they passed the bridge, threw Jesus into the water. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of David: He shall drink of the torrent in the way.

They* reach the city walls. The gate is opened, and the divine prisoner enters. It is night, and the inhabitants know not the orime that has been committed. It is only on the morrow that they will learn that Jesus of Nazareth, the great Prophet, has fallen into the hands of the chief priests and pharisees. The night is far advanced; but many hours must elapse before the dawn of day. The enemies of Jesus have arranged to take Him, in the morning, to Pontius Pilate, and accuse Him as being a disturber of the peace: but in the meanwhile, they intend to oonderan Him as guilty in matters of religion ! Their tribunal has authority to judge in cases of this nature,

1 St. John xrui. 8. St. Luke xzii. 52, 53. St. Matt. xxri. 53, 54. only they cannot pass sentence of death upon a oulprit, how guilty soever they may prove him. They, consequently, hurry Jesus to Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest Caiphas. Here is to take place the first examination. These blood-thirsty men have spent these hours in sleepless anxiety. They have counted the very minutes since the departure of their minions for Mount Olivet. They are not without some doubt as to whether their plot will suoceed. At last, their Victim is brought before them, and He shall not escape their vengeanoe !

Here let us interrupt our history of the Passion, till the morrow shall bring us to the solemn hour, when the great mystery of our instruction and salvation was accomplished. What a day is this that we have been spending ! How full of Jesus' love ! He has given us His Body and Blood to be our food ; He has instituted the priesthood of the new Testament ; He has poured out upon the world the sublimest instructions of His loving Heart. We have seen Him struggling with the feelings of human weakness, as He beheld the chalice of the Passion that was prepared for Him ; but He triumphed over all, in order to save us. We have seen Him betrayed, fettered, and led captive into the holy city, there to consummate His Sacrifice. Let us adore and love this Jesus, who might have saved us by one and the least of all these humiliations; but whose love for us was not satisfied unless He drank, to the very dregs, the chalice He had accepted from His Father.

The following beautiful Prefaoe of the Gothio missal of Spain will assist us in our devotion towards the mysteries we have been celebrating.

ILLATION

Dignum et justum est It is meet and just, that we nos tibi, Domine sancte, should give thanks to thee, 0

Pater omnipotens, gratias agere: et Jesu Christo Filio tuo. Cujus nos humanitas colligit : humilitas erigit : traditio solvit: poena redimit: crux salvificat: sanguis emaculat: caro saginat. Qui seipsum pro nobis hodie tradidit; et culpae nostra vincula relaxavit. Qui ad commendandam fidelibus bonitatis suae, humilitatisque magnificentiam, etiam traditoris sui non dedignatus est pedes abluere: cujus jam manus pr»videbat in scelere. Sed quid mirum: si dum ministerium formae servilis voluntarire morti vicinus adimplet, posuit vestimenta sua: qui cum in forma Dei esset, semetipsum exinanivit ? Quid mirum si praecinxit se linteo: qui formam servi accipiens, habitu est inventus ut homo? Quid mirum si misit aquam in pel vim : unde lavaret pedes discipulorum: qui in terra sanguinem suum fudit: quo immunditias dilueret peccatorum? Quid mirum, si linteo quo erat praBcinctus, pedes quos laverat tersit : qui carne qua erat indutus evangelistarum vestigia confirmavit? Et linteo quidem ut se praecingeret: posuit vestimenta quae habebat: ut autem formam servi acciperet: quando semet- holy Lord, almighty Father, and to Jesus Christ thy Son. We have been fostered by his Humanity, exalted by his humility, set free by his betrayal, redeemed by his punishment, saved by his cross, cleansed by his Blood, fed by his Flesh. He, on this day, delivered himself for us ; and loosed the bonds of our sin. He showed to his faithful people the riches of his goodness and humility, by deigning to wash the feet of his very betrayer, whose hand he already perceived to be engaged in his wicked deed. But what wonder that he, on the eve of his voluntary death, when about to do the work of a servant, should take off his garments, who, being in the form of God, had emptied himself? What wonder that he should gird himself with a towel, who, taking the form of a servant, was found in the habit of man? What wonder that he should put water into a basin to wash the feet of his disciples, who shed his Blood upon the earth to cleanse away the defilements of sinners? What wonder that with the towel, wherewith he was girt, he should wipe the feet he had washed, who, with the Flesh wherewith he had clothed himself, had strengthened the feet of them that were to preach his Gospel? Before girding himself with the towel, he tools ipsum exinanivit: non quod habebat deposuit: sed quod non habebat accepit. Crucifigendus sane suis exspoliatus est vestimentis: et mortuus involutus est linteis: et tota ilia ejus passio credentium facta est purgatio. Passurus igitur exitia; praemisit obsequia. Non solum eis pro quibus subiturus venerat mortem; sed etiam illi qui fuerat traditurus ilium ad mortem. Tanta quippe est human ae humilitatis utilitas: ut earn suo commendaret exemplo divina sublimitas. Quia homo superbus in reternum periret : nisi ilium Deus humilis inveniret. Ut qui periret superbia deceptoris: salvaretur humilitate piissimi redemptoris. Cui merito omnes Angeli et Archangeli non cessant clamare quotidie: una voce dicentes: Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus. off the garments he wore; but, when he took the form of a servant, and emptied himself, he laid not aside what he had, but assumed what he had not. When he was crucified, he wag stripped of his garments, and when dead, was wrapped in linen: and his whole Passion was a purification of them that believe. When, therefore, he was on the eve of his sufferings, he prepared for them by benefits, given not only to them for whom he was about to suffer death, but even to him who was about to betray him unto death. Such, indeed, is the importance of humility to man, that the very majesty of God taught it him by his own example. Proud man would have been for ever lost, had not the humble God found him: and thus, he that had been ruined by the pride of the seducer, was saved by the humility of the most loving Eedeemer, to whom deservedly all the Angels and Archangels cry out daily without ceasing, saying with one voice: Holy! Holy! Holy!

GOOD FRIDAY : TKNEBRJI

GOOD FRIDAY

THE NIOHT OFFICE

The ceremonies used by the Churoh for the Office of Tenebr® having been already explained, we deem it unnecessary to repeat our instructions. The reader may refer to them, should he require to refresh his memory. They are given on pages 301 — 303. Pater noster, Ave, and Credo, in secret.

THE FIRST NOCTURN

The first psalm, after having spoken of the eternal generation of the Son of God, prophesies His kingship over the nations, and the vengeance He will take on His enemies, at the last day. As this magnificent canticle also foretells the revolt of earthly princes against Christ, the Churoh uses it on this day, when the Synagogue has plotted His death.

Ant. Adstiterunt reges Ant. The kings of the earth terras, et principes conve- stood up, and the princes met nerunt in unum, ad versus together against the Lord, and

Dominium, et adversus Chri- against his Christ, stum ejus.

Psalm 2

Quare fremuerunt gen- Why have the Gentiles tes: et populi meditati sunt raged, and the people devised inania? vain things?

Adstiterunt reges terra, The kings of the earth stood et principes convenerunt in up, and the princes met to- unum: adversus Dominum gether, against the Lord, and et adversus Christum ejus. against his Christ.

Dirumpamus vincula eo- They said: Let us break their rum: et projiciamus a no- bonds asunder: and let us cast bis jugum ipsorum. away their yoke from us.

Qui habitat in coelis irridebit eos: et Dominus subsannabit eos.

Tunc loquetur ad eos in ira sua: et in furore suo conturbabit eos.

Ego autem constitutus sum rex ab eo super Sion montem sanctum ejus: praedicans prseceptum ejus.

Dominus dixit ad me: Filius meus es tu, ego hodie genui te.

Postula a me, et dabo tibi Gentes h®reditatem tuam: et possessionem tuam terminos terrae.

Beges eos in virga ferrea: et tamquam vas figuli confringes eos.

Et nunc reges inteiligite: erudimini qui judicatis terrain.

Servite Domino in timore : et exsultate ei cum tremore.

Apprehendite disciplinam: nequando irascatur Dominus: et pereatisde via justa.

Cum exarserit in brevi ira ejus: beati omnes qui confidunt in eo.

Ant. Adstiterunt reges terrse, et principes convenerunt in unum, ad versus Dominum, et adversus Christum ejus.

The second psalm is the Passion. The first

He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at tbem: and the Lord shall deride them.

Then shall he speak to them in his anger: and trouble them in his rage.

But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.

The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance : and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron: and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth.

Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling.

Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry: and you perish from the just way.

When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.

Ant. The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ. pre-eminently the psalm of verse contains one of the

GOOD FRIDAY: TENEBRJE seven words spoken by our Saviour on the oross. The rest of the psalm mentions so many oiroumstanoes of the Passion, and with such clearness, that we almost seem to be reading the account of an eye-witness. Thus it tells us, among other particulars of our Lord's sufferings, of His hands and feet being pieroed, of His Body being violently stretohed upon the oross, of His garments being divided, of lots being oast for His vesture, of His agony, and of His being insulted by them that orucified Him.

Ant. They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots.

Ant. Diviserunt sibi vestimenta mea, et super vestem meam miserunt sortem.

Psalm 21

Deus, Deus mens, respice in me: quare me dereliquisti: longe a salute mea verba delictorum meorum.

Deus meus, clamabo per diem, et non exaudies: et nocte, et non ad insipientiam mihi.

Tu autem in sancto habitas: laus Israel.

In te speraverunt patres nostri: speraverunt, et liberasti eos.

Ad te clamaverunt, et salvi facti sunt: in te speraverunt, et non sunt confusi.

Ego autem sum vermis, et non homo: opprobrium hominum, et abjectio plebis.

Omnes videntes me deriserunt me: locuti sunt labiis, et moverunt caput.

Speravit in Domino, eripiat eum : salvum faciat

0 God, my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me: Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.

0 my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me.

But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel.

In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped and thou hast delivered them.

They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.

All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head.

He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save eum, quoniam vult eum.

Quoniam tu es, qui extraxisti me de ventre: apes mea ab uberibus matris men.

In te projectus sum ex utero: de ventre matris meae Deus meus es tu: ne discesseris a me.

Quoniam tribulatio proxima est: quoniam non est qui adjuvet.

Cireumdederunt me vituli multi: tauri pingues obsederunt me.

Aperuerunt super me os suum: sicut leo rapiens et rugiens.

Sicut aqua eifusus sum: et dispersa sunt omnia ossa mea.

Factum est cor meum tamquam cera liquescens: in medio ventris mei.

Aruit tamquam testa virtus mea, et lingua mea adhaesit faucibus meis: et in pulverem mortis deduxisti me.

Quoniam cireumdederunt me canes multi: concilium malignantium obsedit me.

Foderunt manus meas et pedes meos: dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea.

Ipsi vero consideraverunt et inspexerunt me: diviserunt sibi vestimenta mea, et super vestem meam miserunt sortem.

Tu autem, Domine, ne elongaveris auxilium tuum him, seeing he delighted in him. For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb: my hope from the breasts of my mother.

I was cast upon thee from the womb: from my mother's womb thou art my God, depart not from me.

For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me.

Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me.

They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring.

I am poured out like water: and all my bones are scattered.

My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaven to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.

For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me.

They have dug my hands and feet: they have numbered all my bones.

And they have looked and stared upon me: they parted my garments amongst them, and upon my vesture they cast lots.

But thou, 0 Lord, remove not thy help to a distance

GOOD FRIDAY: TfctfXBRA a me: ad defenaionem meam conspice.

Erue a framea, Dens, animam meam: et de manu canis unicam meam.

Salva me ex ore leonis: et a cornibus unicornium humilitatem meam.

Narrabo nomen tuum fratribus meis: in medio ecclesiee laudabo te.

Qui timetis Dominum, laudato eum: universum semen Jacob, glorificate eum.

Timeat eum omne semen Israel: quoniam non sprevit, neque despexit deprecationem pauperis.

Nec avertit faciem suam a me: et cum clamarem ad eum, exaudivit me.

Apud te laus mea in ecclesia magna: vota mea reddam in conspectu timentium eum.

Edent pauperes, et saturabuntur, et laudabunt Dominum qui requirunt eum: vivent corda eorum in sfficulum sraculi.

Reminiscentur et convertentur ad Dominum: universi fines terra.

Et adorabunt in conspectu ejus: universae familiae gentium.

Quoniam Domini est regnum: et ipse dominabitur gentium.

Manducaverunt, et adoraverunt omnes pingues terra; in conspectu ejus from me: look towards my defence.

Deliver, 0 God, my soul from the sword: my only one from the hand of the dog.

Save me from the lion's mouth: and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns.

I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise thee.

Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him.

Let all the seed of Israel fear him: because he hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man.

Neither hath he turned away his face from me: and when I cried to him he heard me.

With thee is my praise in the great church: I will pay vows in the sight of them that fear him.

The poor shall eat and shall be filled, and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their hearts shall live for ever and ever.

All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord.

And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight.

For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he shall have dominion over the nations.

All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored : all they that go down xsadent omnes, qui descendant in terram.

Et anima mea illi vivet: et semen meum serviet ipsi.

Annuntiabitur Domino genera tio ventura: et annuntiabunt coeli justitiam ejus, populo qui nascetur, quern fecit Dominus.

Ant. Diviserunt sibi vestimenta mea, et super vestem meam miseniD t sortem. to the earth shall fall before him.

And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him.

There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall show forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.

Ant. They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots.

The third psalm was composed by David, when fleeing from Saul's persecution. It shows us how this holy prophet kept up his confidence in the Lord, in spite of all the dangers that threatened him. David is here a figure of Christ in His Passion.

Ant. Insurrexerunt in Ant. Unjust witnesses have me testes iniqui, et mentita risen up against me, and miest iniqui tas sibi. quity hath belied itself.

Psalm 26

Dominus illuminatio mea, et sal us mea: quern timebo?

Dominus protector vitas meae: a quo trepidabo?

Dum appropiant super me nocentes: ut edant carnes meas.

Qui tribulant me inimici mei: ipsi infirmati sunt et ceciderunt.

Si consistant adversum me castra: non timebit cor meum.

Si exsurgat adversum me

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?

Whilst the wicked draw near against me, to eat my flesh.

My enemies that troubled me have been weakened, and have fallen.

If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear.

If a battle should rise up

GOOD FRIDAY: TBNBBRJS proelium: in hoc ego sperabo.

Unam petii a Domino, hanc requiram: ut inhabitem in domo Domini omnibus diebus vitas meae.

Ut videam voluptatem Domini: et visitem templum ejus.

Quoniam abscondit me in tabernaculo suo: in die malorum protexit me in abscondito tabernaculi sui.

In petra exaltavit me: et nunc exaltavit caput meum super inimicos meos.

Circuivi, et immolavi in tabernaculo ejus hostiam vociferationis: cantabo, et psalmum dicam Domino.

Exaudi, Domine, vocem meam, qua clamavi ad te: miserere mei, et exaudi me.

Tibi dixit cor meum, exquisivit te facies mea: faciem tuam, Domine, requiram.

Ne avert as faciem tuam a me: ne declines in ira a servo tuo.

Adjutormeusesto: nederelinquas me, neque despicias me, Deus salutaris meus.

Quoniam pater meus et mater mea dereliquerunt me: Dominus autem assumpsit me.

Legem pone mihi, Domine, in via tua: et dirige me against me, in this will I be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

That I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple.

For he hath hid me in his tabernacle; in the day of evils he hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle.

He hath exalted me upon a rock : and now he hath lifted up my head above my enemies.

I have gone round, and have offered up in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation: I will sing, and recite a psalm to the Lord.

Hear, 0 Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to thee: have mercy on me, and hear me.

My heart hath said to thee, my face hath sought thee: thy face, 0 Lord, will I still seek.

Turn not away thy face from me: decline not in thy wrath from thy servant.

Be thou my helper: forsake me not, do not thou despise me, 0 God my Saviour.

For my father and my mother have left me: but the Lord hath taken me up.

Set me, O Lord, a law in thy way: and guide me in in semi tarn rectam propter inimicos meos.

Ne tradideris me in animas tribulantium me: quoniam insurrexerunt in me testes iniqui, et mentita est iniqnitas sibi.

Credo videre bona Domini: in terra viventium.

Ezspecta Dominum, viriliter age: et conf ortetur cor tuum, et sustine Dominum.

Ant. Insurrexerunt in me testes iniqui, et mentita est iniqnitas sibi. f. Diviserunt sibi vestimenta mea.

Iff. Et super vestem meam miserunt sortem. the right path, because of my enemies.

Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me: for unjust witnesses have risen up against me, and iniquity hath belied itself.

I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

Expect the Lord, do manfully: and let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord.

Ant. Unjust witnesses have risen up against me, and iniquity hath belied itself. f. They parted my gar* ments among them. ty. And upon my vesture they cast lots. Here is said, in secret, the Pater noster. The lessons of the first nooturn are to-day, also, taken from the Lamentations of Jeremias. We have already (page 311) explained why the Church reads them on these three days. The first two of the following lessons refer to the destruction of Jerusalem; the third we will explain in its proper place,

FIRST

De Lamentatione Jeremise Prophetae. Cap. ii. Heth. Cogitavit Dominus dissipare murum filiae Sion: tetendit funiculum suum, et non avertit manum suam aperditione: luxitque antemurale, et mums pariter dissipatus est.

From the Lamentation of Jeremias the Prophet. Ch. ii.

Heth. The Lord hath pur* posed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion : he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.

GOOD PKIDAY : TBNBBBJK

Teth. Defix® sunt in terra port® ejus, perdidit et contrivit 'vectes ejus, regem ejus, et principes ejus, in gentibus. Non est lex: et prophet® ejus non invenerunt visionem a Domino.

Jod. Sederunt in terra, conticuerunt senes filise Sion: consperserunt cinere capita sua, accincti sunt ciliciis; abjecerunt in terram capita sua virgines Jerusalem.

Caph. Defecerunt pr® lacrymis oculi mei, conturbata sunt viscera mea. Effusum est in terra jecur meum super contritione filise populi mei, cum deficeret parvulus et lactens in plateis oppidi.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum. fy. Omnes amici mei dereliquerunt me, et provaluerunt insidiantes mihi: tradidit me quern diligebam. 0 Et terribilibus oculis plaga crudeli percutientes, aceto potabant me. f . Inter iniquos projeceruntme: et non pepercerunt animae meaB.

0 Et terribilibus oculis plaga crudeli percutientes, aceto potabant me.

Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles. The law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.

Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace ; they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with hair-cloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled. My liver is poured out npon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children and the sucklings fainted away in the streets of the city.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord thy God.

I$r. AH my friends have forsaken me, and they that lay in ambush for me prevailed:: he whom I loved has betrayed me. 0 And they, with terrible looks, striking me with a cruel wound, gave me vinegar to drink.

If'. They cast me out among the wicked, and spared not my life.

0 And they, with terrible looks striking me with a cruel wound, gave me vinegar to drink.

Lamed. Matribus suis dixerunt: Ubi est triticum et vinum? cum deficerent quasi vulnerati in plateis civitatis, cum exhalarent animas suas in sinu matrum suarum.

Mem. Cui comparabo te, vel cui assimilabo te filia Jerusalem? cui exsequabo te, et consolabor te, virgo filia Sion? Magna est enim velut mare contritio tua: quis medebitur tui?

Nun. Prophete tui viderunt tibi falsa et stulta: nec aperiebant iniquitatem tuam, ut te ad poenitentiam provocarent. Viderunt autem tibi assumptiones falsas, et ejectiones.

Samech. Plauserunt super te manibus omnes transeuntes per viam: sibilaverunt, et moverunt caput suum super filiam Jerusalem: Haeccine est urbs, dicentes, perfecti decoris, gaudium universBB terrae?

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum.

"Velum templi scissum est, ° Et omnis terra tremuit: latro de cruce clamabat, dicens: Memento mei, Domine, dum veneris in regnum tuum. f. Petrsa scissro sunt, et monumenta aperta sunt, et

Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.

Mem. To what shall I compare thee, or to what shall I liken thee, 0 daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? For great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee?

Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee; and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance, but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.

Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed and wagged their heads at the daughter of J erusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth?

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord thy God.

I£. The veil of the temple was rent, 0 And all the earth shook: the thief cried out from the cross, saying: Kemember me, O Lord, when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. f. The rocks were split, and the monuments opened, and}

GOOD FRIDAY : TENBBBJR multa corpora sanctorum, qui dormierant, surrexerunt.

° Et omnis terra tremuit: latro de cruce clamabat, dicens: Memento mei, Domine, dum veneris in regnum tuum. many bodies of the saints that were dead rose out of them.

° And all the earth shook: the thief cried out from the cross, saying: Remember me, O Lord, when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.

In the third lesson, which now follows, Jeremias passes to another subject. According to the usage of the prophets, he leaves Jerusalem, to speak of Him who is the expectation of Israel — the Messias. But it is not of the glory of the Messias that he now speaks: it is of the sufferings He endures: He has made Himself the object of Gfod's severest justice, by taking upon Himself the sins of the whole world.

THIRD LESSON

Axeph. Ego vir videns paupertatem meam, in virga indignationis ejus.

Aleph. Me minavit et adduxit in tenebras, et non in lucem.

Aleph. Tantum in me vertit, et convertit manum suam tota die.

Beth. Vetustam fecit pellem meam et carnem meam: contrivit ossa mea.

Beth. iEdificavit in gyro meo, et circumdedit me f elle et labore.

Beth. In tenebrosis collocavit me, quasi mortuos t sempiternos.

Ghimel. Circumaedificavit adversum me, ut non egrediar: aggravavit compedem meum.

Ghimel. Sed et cum cla-

Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.

Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.

Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.

Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.

Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.

Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.

Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.

Ghimel, yea, and when I mavero ei rogavero, exclusit orationem meam.

Ghimel. Conclusit vias meag lapidibus quadris, semitas meaa subvertit.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum.

J$. Yinea mea electa, ego te plantavi: ° Quomodo conversa es in amaritudinem ut me crucifigeres, et Barabbam dimitteres?

. Sepivi te, et lapides elegi ex te, et aedificavi turrim.

0 Quomodo conversa es in amaritudinem, ut me crucifigeres, et Barabbam dimitteres?

Here is repeated: Vinea mea. cry and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.

Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord thy God.

I$r. O my chosen vineyard, it is I that have planted thee: ° How art thou become so bitter, that thou shouldst crucify me, and release Barabbas?

jt. I have hedged thee in, and picked the stones out of thee, and have built a tower.

° How art thou become so bitter, that thou shouldst crucify me, and release Barabbas?

Here is repeated: 0 my chosen.

THE 8ECOND NOCTTJRN

In the fourth psalm, David humbly acknowledges that the rebellion of his son Absolom was a just punishment of the sins he himself had committed. He is a figure of the Messias, who, in His agony, confesses that the iniquities, whioh He has taken upon Himself, are a heavy burthen upon Him, that His heart is troubled, and that His strength hath left Him.

Ant. Vim faciebant, qui Ant. They used violence quserebant animam meam. that sought my soul.

Psalm 37

Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me: neque in ira tua corripias me.

Quoniam sagittro ture infj-

Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation: nor chastise me in thy wrath.

For thy arrows are fastened^

GOOD FRIDAY : TBKEBR.fi xeesunt mihi: et confirmasti super me manum tuam.

Non est sanitas in came mea a facie ir» tu»: non est pax ossibus meis a facie peccatorum meorum.

Quoniam iniquitates mese supergresssB sunt caput meum: et sicut onus grave gravatse sunt super me.

Putruerunt, et corruptee sunt cicatrices meae: a facie insipientisB meae.

Miser f actus sum, et curvatus sum usque in finem: tota die contristatus ingrediebar.

Quoniam lumbi mei impleti sunt illusionibus: et non est sanitas in came mea.

Afflictus sum et humiliatus sum nimis: rugiebam a gemitu cordis mei.

Domine, ante te omne desiderium meum: et gemitus meus ate non est absconditus.

Cor meum conturbatum est, dereliquit me virtus mea : et lumen oculorum meorum, et ipsum non est mecum.

Amici mei et proximi mei: adversum me appropinquaverunt et steterunt.

Et qui juxta me erant, de longe steterunt: et vim faciebant qui qua3rebant animam meam.

Et qui inquirebant mala mihi, locuti sunt vanitates: et dolos tota die meditabantur.

Ego autem tamquam sur- in me : and thy hand hath been strong upon me.

There is no health in my flesh, because of thy wrath: there is no peace for my bones, because of my sins.

For my iniquities are gone over my head: and as a heavy burthen are become heavy upon me.

My sores are putrefied and corrupted, because of my foolishness.

I am become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end: I walked sorrowful all the day long.

For my loins are filled with illusions: and there is no health in my flesh.

I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly: I roared with the groaning of my heart.

Lord, all my desire is before thee: and my groaning is not hid from thee.

My heart is troubled, my strength hath left me: and the light of my eyes itself is not with me.

My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against me.

And they that were near me stood afar off: and they that sought my soul used violence.

And they that sought evils to me spoke vain things: and studied deceits all the day long.

But I, as a deaf man, heard

PA88IONTIDB AND HOLT WEEK dus non audiebam: et sicut mutus non aperiens os sunm.

Et factus sum sicut homo non audiens: et non habens in ore suo redargutiones.

Quoniam in te Domine, speravi: tu exaudies me, Domine Deus meus.

Quia dixi: Nequando supergaudeant mini inimici mei: et dum commoventur pedes mei super me magna locuti sunt.

Quoniam ego in flagella paratus sum: et dolor meus in conspectu meo semper.

Quoniam iniquitatem meam annuntiabo: et cogitabo pro peccato meo.

Inimici autem mei vivunt, et confirmati sunt super me: et multiplicati sunt qui oderunt me inique.

Qui retribuunt mala pro bonis detrahebantmihi: quoniam sequebar bonitatem.

Ne derelinquas me, Domine Deus meus: ne discesseris a me.

Intende in adjutorium meum: Domine, Deus salutis meas.

Ant. Vim faciebant qui quaerebant animam meam. not: and was as a dumb man not opening his mouth.

And I became as a man that heareth not: and that hath no reproofs in his mouth.

For in thee, 0 Lord, have I hoped: thou wilt hear me, 0 Lord my God.

For I said: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me: and whilst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me.

For I am ready for scourges: and my sorrow is continually before me.

For I will declare my iniquity: and I will think for my sin.

But my enemies live, and are stronger than I: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

They that render evil for good have detracted me, because I followed goodness.

Forsake me not, 0 Lord my God: do not thou depart from me.

Attend unto my help, 0 Lord, the God of my salvation.

Ant. They used violence that sought my soul.

The fifth psalm also represents David, under persecution, as the figure of the Messias. But there is one verse in it, which refers to Christ only, and not to David: it is the tenth, wherein it is said: burnt-offerings and sin-offerings thou didst not reouire ; then, said 1 : 4 Behold I come /'

GOOD FRIDAY : TENBBRJI

Ant. Confundanturetre- Ant. Let them be con- ▼ereantur, qui quasrunt ani- founded and ashamed that seek mam meam, ut auf erant earn, after my soul, to take it away.

Psalm 39

Exspectans exspectavi Dominum: et intendit mihi.

Etexaudivit precesmeas: et eduxit me de lacu miseries et de luto fsacis.

Et statuit super petram pedes meos: et direxit gressus meos.

Et immisit in os meum canticum novum: carmen Deo nostro.

Videbunt multi, et timebunt: et sperabunt in Domino.

Beatus vir, cujus est nomen Domini spes ejus: et non respexit in vanitates et insanias falsas.

Multa f ecisti tu Domine Deus meus, mirabilia tua: et cogitationibus tuis non est qui similis sit tibi.

Annuntiavi et locutus sum: multiplicati sunt super numerum.

Sacrificium et oblationem noluisti: aures autem perf ecisti mihi.

Holocaustum et pro peccato non postulasti: tunc dixi: Ecce venio.

In capite libri scriptum est de me, ut facerem vo-

With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.

And he heard my prayers and he brought me out of the pit of misery, and the mire of dregs.

And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.

And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God.

Many shall see this, and shall fear: and they shall hope in the Lord.

Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord: and who hath not had regard to vanities and lying follies.

Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God: and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee.

I have declared, and I have spoken: they are multiplied above number.

Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire: but thou hast pierced ears for me.

Burnt-offerings and sin-offerings thou didst not require: then said I: Behold I come.

In the head of the book it was written of me, that I should luntatem ttiam: Deus metis, volui, et legem tuam in medio cordis mei.

Annuntiavi justitiam tuam in ecclesia magna: ecce labia mea non prohibebo: Domine, tu scisti.

Justitiam tuam non abscondi in corde meo: veritatem tuam et salutare tuum dixi.

Non abscondi misericordiam tuam, et veritatem tuam: a concilio multo.

Tu autem, Domine, ne longe facias miserationes tuas a me : misericordia tua et Veritas tua semper susceperunt me.

Quoniam circumdederunt me mala, quorum non est numerus: comprebenderunt me iniquitates mesa, et non potui ut viderem.

Multiplicati sunt super capillos capitis mei: et cor meum dereliquit me.

Complaceat tibi Domine, et eruas me: Domine, ad adjuvandum me respice.

Confundantur et revereantur simul, qui quaerunt animam meam: ut auferant earn.

Convertantur retrorsum et revereantur: qui volunt mihi mala.

Ferant confestim confusionem suam: qui dicunt mibi: Euge, euge.

Exsultent et lsstentur super te omnes quaerentes te: do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart.

I have declared thy justice in the great Church: lo! I will not restrain my lips: O Lord, thou knowest it.

I have not hid thy justice within my heart. I have declared thy truth and thy salvation.

I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from the great council.

Withhold not thou, 0 Lord, thy tender mercies from me: thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me.

For evils without number have surrounded me: my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see.

They are multiplied above the hairs of my head: and my heart hath forsaken me.

Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: look down, 0 Lord, to help me.

Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul, to take it away.

Let them be turned backward, and be ashamed, that desire evils to me. . Let them immediately bear their confusion that say to me: Tis well, 'tis well.

Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; and

GOOD FRIDAY! TBNBBRJB ei dicant semper: Magnifioetur Dominus, qui diligunt salutare tuum.

Ego autem mendicus sum, ei pauper: Dominus sollicitus est mei.

Adjutor meus et proteotor meustu ee: Deus meus, ne tardaveris.

Ant. Confundanturet revereantur, qui quaerunt animam, ut auf erant earn. let such as love thy salvation, say always, The Lord be magnified.

But I am a beggar and poor: the Lord is careful for me.

Thou art my helper and my protector: 0 my God, be not slack.

Ant. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul, to take it away.

In the sixth psalm, David, persecuted by Saul, is a figure of our Saviour, against whom the Synagogue prepares its wicked plots.

Ant. Alieni insurrexe- Ant. Strangers have risen runt in me, et fortes qua- up against me, and the mighty sierunt animam meam. have sought after my soul.

Psalm 53

Deus, in nomine tuo salvum me fac: et in virtute tua judica me.

Deus, exaudi orationem meam: auribus percipe verba oris mei. -

Quoniam alieni insurrexerunt adversum me, et fortes quaesierunt animam meam: et non proposuerunt Deum ante conspectum suum.

Ecce enim Deus adjuvat me: et Dominus susceptor est animae mesa.

Averte mala inimicis meis: et in veritate tua disperde illos.

Voluntarie sacrificabo tibi: et confitebor nomini tuo, Domine, quoniam bonum est.

Save me, 0 God, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength.

0 God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.

For strangers have risen up against me: and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.

For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.

Turn back the evils upon my enemies: and cut them off in thy truth.

1 will freely sacrifice to thee, and will give praise, 0 God, to thy name: because it is good.

Quoniam ex omni tribulatione eripuisti me: et super inimicos meos despexit oculus meus.

Ant. Alieni insurrexerunt in me, et fortes, quaesierunt animam meam. f. Insurrexerunt in me testes iniqui.

Et mentita est iniquitas sibi.

For thou bast delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye hath looked down upon my enemies.

Ant. Strangers have risen up against me, and the mighty have sought after my soul. f. Unjust witnesses have risen up against me. ty. And iniquity hath belied itself.

Here is said, in secret, the Pater noster.

For the second nooturn lessons the Church continues the Enarratiom of St. Augustine on the psalms prophetic of our Lord's Passion.

FOURTH LESSON

Ex tractatu Sancti Augustini Episeopi, super Psalmos.

Pb. Ixiii. Protexisti me, Deus, a conventu malignantium, a multitudine operantium iniquitatem. J am ipsum caput nostrum intueamur. Multi martyres talia passi sunt, sed nihil sic elucet, quomodo caput martyrum: ibi melius intuemur, quod illi experti sunt. Protectus est a multitudine malignantium: protegente se Deo, protegente carnem suam ipso Filio, et homine quern gerebat, quia Filius hominis est, et Filius Dei est: Filius Dei, propter formam Dei: Filius hominis, propter formam servi,

From the treatise of Saint Augustine, Bishop, upon the Psalms.

Ps. Ixiii. Thou hast protected me, 0 God, from the assembly of the malignant, from the multitude of the workers of iniquity. Now let us behold our bead himself. Many martyrs have suffered such torments, but nothing is so conspicuous as the bead of the martyrs; there we see better what they endured. He was protected from the multitude of the malignant: that is, God protected himself; the Son, and the Man assumed by the Son, protected his own flesh. For he is the Son of Man, and the Son of God: the Son of God because of the form of God: the Son of Man because of the

GOOD FRIDAY : TKNEBRJK habens in potestate ponere animam suam, et recipere earn. Quid ei potuerunt facere inimici? Occiderunt corpus, animam non occiderunt. Intendite. Parum ergo erat Dominum hortari martyres verbo, nisi firmaret exemplo.

Xpr. Tanquam ad latronem existis cum gladiis et fustibus comprehendere me. ° Quotidie apud vos eram in templo docens, et non me tenuistis: et ecce flagellatum ducitis ad crucifigendum. f. Cumque injecissent manus in Jesum, et tenuissent eum, dixit ad eos:

° Quotidie apud vos eram in templo docens, et non me tenuistis; et ecce flagellatum ducitis ad crucifigendum.

FIFTH

Nostis qui conventus erat malignantium Judseorum, et quae multitudo erat operautium iniquitatem. Quaminiquitatem? Quia voluerunt occidere Dominum Jesum Christum. Tanta opera bona, inquit, ostendi vobis; propter quod horum me vultis occidere? Pertulit omnes infirmos eorum, curavit omnes languidos eorum, praedicavit regnum coelo- form of a servant, having it in his power to lay down his life, and take it up again. What could his enemies do against him? They killed his body, but they did not kill his soul. Take notice, then. It signified little for our Lord to exhort the martyrs by word, if he had not fortified them by his example.

Ye are come out to take me, as a thief, with swords and clubs. 0 I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye did not apprehend me: and lo! ye scourge me, and lead me to be crucified. t. And when they had laid hands on Jesus, and taken him, he said to them:

0 I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye did not apprehend me: and lo! ye scourge me, and lead me to be crucified.

You know what was the assembly of the wicked Jews, and what the multitude of those that work iniquity. But what was that iniquity? It was that they intended to kill our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 1 have done, saith he, 4 so many good works among you: for which of them will you kill me?' He bore with all their weaknesses, he cured all their sick, he preached the kingdom of heaven, h$ rum, non tacuit vitia eorum, ut ipsa potius eis displicerent, non medicus a quo sanabantur. His omnibus curationibus ejus ingrati, tamquam multa febre phrenetici, insanientes in modicum qui venerat curare eos, excogitaverunt consilium perdendi eum; tanquam ibi volentes probare, utrum vere homo sit qui mori possit, an aliquid super homines sit, et mori se non permittat. Verbum ipsorum agnoscimus in Sapientia Salomonis. Morte turpissima, inquiunt, condemnemus eum: interrogemus eum: erit enim respectus in sermonibus illius. Si enim vere Filius Dei est, liberet eum.

Tenebrae factae sunt, dum crucifixissent Jesum Judaei : et circa horam nonam exclamavit Jesus voce magna : Deus meus, ut quid me dereliquisti? ° Et inclinato capite, emisit spiritum. f. Exclamans Jesus voce magna ait: Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum.

° Et inclinato capite, emisit spiritum.

SIXTH

Exacuerunt tamquam gladium linguas suas. Non dicant Judaei: Non occidimus Christum. Etenim concealed not their crimes, that they might rather hate them, than the physician that healed them. Yet such was their ingratitude for all these cures, that like men raving in a high fever, they raged against the physician that came to cure them, and formed a design of destroying him: as if they had a mind to try whether he was a real man that could die, or something above men, and would not die. We find their words in the Wisdom of Solomon: 4 Let us condemn him/ say they, 4 to a most shameful death. Let us examine him: for regard will be had to his words. If he is truly the Son of God, let him deliver him.' ty. Darkness covered the earth, whilst the Jews crucified Jesus : and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice: My God ! why hast thou forsaken me? ° And bowing down his head, he gave up the ghost. f. Jesus crying out with a loud voice said: Father! into thy hands I commend my spirit 1

0 And bowing down his head, he gave up the ghost

They sharpened their tongues like a sword. Let not the Jews say: 4 We did not kill Christ:' for they delivered him up to

&oob b1da : tbNebrA 433 propterea eum dederunt judici Pilato, at quasi ipsi a morte ejus viderentur immunes. Nam cum dixisset eis Pilatus: Vos eum occiditejresponderunt: Nobis non licet occidere quemquam. Iniquitatem facinoris sui in judicem hominem refundere volebant: sed numquid Deum judicem fallebant? Quod fecit Pilatus, in eo ipso quod fecit, aliquantum particeps fuit: sed in comparatione illorum, multo ipse innocentior. Institit enim quantum potuit, ut ilium ex eorum manibus liberaret: nam propterea flagellatum produxit ad eos. Non persequendo Dominum flagellavit, sed eorum f urori satisfacere volens: ut vel sic jam mitescerent, et desinerent velle occidere, cum flagellatum viderent. Fecit et hoc. At ubi perseveraverunt, nostis ilium lavisse manus, et {lixisse quod ipse non fecisset, mundum se esse a morte illius. Fecit tamen. Sed si reus, quia fecit vel invitus: illi innocentes, qui coegerunt ut faceret? Nullo modo. Sed ille dixit in eum sententiam, et jussit eum crucifigi, et quasi ipse occidit: et vos, O Judeei, occidistis. Unde occidistis? Grladio linguae; acuistis enim linguas vestras. Et quan-

Pilate, the judge, that they might seem innocent of his death. Thus when Pilate had said to them : 4 Put him to death yourselves:' they answered: * It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. Hereby, they pretended to throw the injustice of their crime upon a judge that was a man: but could they deceive a judge that is God? What Pilate did, made him partaker of their crime: but in comparison with them, he was much more innocent. For he laboured what he could to get him out of their hands; and for that reason ordered him to be scourged and shown to them. This he did to our Lord, not by way of persecution, but to satisfy their rage; that the sight of him in that condition might move them to pity, and make them desist from desiring his death. All this he did. But when they still persisted, you know that he washed his hands, and said that he had no hand in it, that he was innocent of his death. And yet he really put him to death. But if he was guilty for doing so against his will: are they innocent that forced him to do it? By no means. He pronounced sentence upon him, and commanded him to be crucified, and so might be said to kill him: but you, 0 Jews, you also killed him. How? With do percussistis, nisi quando clamastis: Crucifige, crucifige?

I$r. Animam meam dilectam tradidi in manus iniquorum, et facta est mihi hsereditas mea sicut leo in silva: dedit contra me voces adversarius, dicens: Congregamini, et properate ad devorandum ilium. Posuerunt me in deserto solitudinis, et luxit super me omnis terra: 0 Quia non est inventus qui me agnosceret, et faceret bene. f. Insurrexerunt in me viri absque misericordia, et non peperceruntanimseme®.

0 Quia non est inventus qui me agnosceret, et faceret bene.

Here is repeated: Animam meam dilectam. the sword of your tongues: for ye sharpened your tongues. And when gave you the stroke, but when you cried out: 4 Crucify him, crucify him'?

I£. I have delivered my beloved soul into the hands of the wicked, and my inheritance is become to me like a lion in the forest: my adversary gave out his words against me, saying: Come together, and make haste to devour him. They placed me in a solitary desert, and all the earth mourned for me: 0 Because there was none found that would know me, and do good unto me. f. Men without mercy rose up against me, and they spared not my life.

0 Because there was none found that would know me, and do good unto me.

Here is repeated: I have delivered.

THE THIRD NOCTURN

The seventh psalm was composed by David at the* time when he was being persecuted by Saul. The prophet, by describing the fury of his own persecutor, shows us what kind of men were the enemies of the Messias.

Ant. Ab insurgentibus AlNT. From them that rise in me, libera me, Domine, up against me, deliver me, 0 quia occupaverunt animam Lord: for they are in posses- meam. sion of my soul.

Psalm 58

Eripe me de inimicis meis, Deliver me from my ene-

GOOD FftlDAY : TBftEB&E

Deus meus: et ab insurgentibus in me, libera me.

Eripe me de operantibus iniquitatem: et de viris sanguinum salva me.

Quia ecce ceperunt animam meam: irruerunt in me fortes.

Neque iniqnitas mea, neque peccatum meum, Domine: sine iniqnitate cucurri, et direxi.

Exsurge in occnrsum meum, et vide: et tu, Domine, Dens virtutum, Deus Israel.

Intende ad visitandas omnes Gentes: non miserearis omnibus qui operantur iniquitatem.

Convertentur ad vesperam, et famem patientur ut canes: et circuibunt civitatem.

Ecce loquentur in ore suo, et gladius in labiis eorum: quoniam quis audivit?

Et tu, Domine, deridebis eos: ad nihilum deduces omnes Gentes.

Fortitudinem meam ad te custodiam, quia Deus susceptor meus es : Deus meus, miaericordia ejus praeveniet me.

Deus ostendit mihi super inimicos meos, ne occidas eos: nequando obliviscantur populi mei.

Disperge illos in virtute tua; et depone eos, prote- inics, 0 my God: and defend me from them that rise up against me.

Deliver me from them that work iniquity: and save me from bloody men.

For behold they have caught my soul: the mighty have rushed in upon me.

Neither is it for my iniquity, nor for my sin, 0 Lord: without iniquity have I run and directed my steps.

Rise up thou to meet me, and behold: even thou, 0 Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel.

Attend to visit all the nations: have no mercy on all them that work iniquity.

They shall return at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs: and shall go round about the city.

Behold they shall speak with their mouth, and a sword is in their lips: for who, say they, hath heard us?

But thou, 0 Lord, shalt laugh at them : thou shalt bring all the nations to nothing.

I will keep my strength to thee, for thou art my protector: my God, his mercy shall prevent me.

God shall let me see over my enemies: slay them not, lest at any time my people forget.

Scatter them by thy power: and bring them down, 0 Lord!. ctor meus, Domine.

Delictum oris eorum, sermonem labiorum ipso rum: et comprehendantur in superbia sua.

Et de execratione et mendacio annuntiabuntur in consummatione: in ira consummationis, et non erunt.

Et scient quia Deus dominabitur Jacob: et finium terraB.

Convertentur ad vesperam, et famem patientur ut canes: et circuibunt civitatem.

Ipsi dispergentur ad manducandum: si vero non fuerint saturati, et murmurabunt.

Ego autem cantabo fortitudinem tuam: et exaltabo mane misericordiam tuam.

Quia factus es susceptor meus: et refugium meum, in die tribulationis me®.

Adjutor meus tibi psallam, quia Deus susceptor meus es: Deus meus, misericordia mea.

Ant. Ab insurgentibus in me, libera me, Domine, quia occupaverunt animam meam. my protector.

For the sin of their mouth, and the word of their lips: and let them be taken in their pride.

And for their cursing and lying they shall be talked of, when they are consumed : when they are consumed by thy wrath, and they shall be no more.

And they shall know that God will rule Jacob: and all the ends of the earth.

They shall return at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs: and shall go round about the city.

They shall be scattered abroad to eat: and shall murmur if they be not filled.

But I will sing thy strength: and will extol thy mercy in the morning.

For thou art become my support and my refuge, in the day of my trouble.

Unto thee, 0 my helper, will I sing, for thou art God, my defence: my God, my mercy.

Ant. From them that rise up against me, deliver me, 0 Lord, for they are in possession of my soul.

In the eighth psalm, the royal prophet shows us the Messias threatened with death, and complaining of His disciples having abandoned Him.

Ant. Longe fecisti notos meos a me: traditus sum,

Ant. Thou hast put away my acquaintance fax from met

GOOD FRIDAY : TENBBRJS et non egrediebar.

Domine, Deus salutis me®: in die clamavi, et nocte coram te.

Intret in conspectn tuo oratio mea: inclina aurem tuam ad precem meam.

Quia repleta est malis anima mea : et vita mea inferno appropinquavit. jEstimatus sum cum descendentibus in lacum: factus sum sicut homo sine adjutorio, inter mortuos liber.

Sicut vulnerati dormientes in sepulchris, quorum nonesmemoramplius: etipsi de manu tua repulsi sunt.

Posuerunt me in lacu inferior i: in tenebrosis, et in umbra mortis.

Super me confirmatus est furor tuus: et omnes fluctus tuos induxisti super me.

Longe f ecisti notos meos a me: posuerunt me abominationem sibi.

Traditus sum, et non egrediebar: oculi mei languerunt pr» inopia.

Clamavi ad te, Domine, tota die: expandi ad te manus meas.

Numquid mortuis facies mirabilia: aut medici suscitabunt, et confitebuntur tibi?

Jfumquid narrabit aliquis

I was delivered up, and I escaped not. m 87

0 God, the God of my salvation, I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee.

Let my prayer come in before thee: incline thy ear to my petition.

For my soul is filled with evils: and my life hath drawn nigh to hell.

1 am counted among them that go down to the pit: I am become as a man without help, free among the dead.

Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cast off from thy hand.

They have laid me in the lower pit: in the dark places and in the shadow of death.

Thy wrath is strong over me: and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me.

Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me an abomination to themselves.

I was delivered up, and came not forth: my eyes languished through poverty.

All the day I cried to thee, 0 Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee.

Wilt thou show wonders to the dead: or shall physicians raise to life, and give praise to thee?

Shall any one in the sepul-

PASSIONTIDE AND HOLY WEEK in sepulchro misericord iam tuam: et veritatem ituam in perditione?

Numquid cognoscentur in tenebris mirabilia tna: et justitia tna in terra oblivionis?

Et ego ad te, Domine, clamavi: et mane oratio mea prasveniet te.

Ut quid, Domine, repellis orationem meam : avertis faciem tuam a me?

Pauper sum ego, et in laborious a juventute mea: exaltatus autem, humiliatus sum et conturbatus.

In me transierunt ira tu®: et terrores tui conturbaverunt me.

Circumdederunt me sicut aqua tota die: circumdederunt me simul.

Elongasti a me amicum etproximum: etnotosmeos a miseria.

Ant. Longe fecisti notos meos a me: traditus sum, et non egrediebar. chre declare thy mercy, and thy truth in destruction?

Shall thy wonders be known in the dark: and thy justice in the land of forgetfulness?

But I, 0 Lord, have cried to thee, and in the morning my prayer shall prevent thee.

Lord, why castest thou off my prayer: why turnest thou away thy face from me?

I am poor and in labours from my youth: and being exalted, have been humbled and troubled.

Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me.

They have come round about me like water all the day: they have compassed me about together.

Friend and neighbour thou hast put far from me: and my acquaintance because of misery.

Ant. Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: I was delivered up, and I escaped not.

The ninth psalm invokes the vengeanoe of God upon the unjust judges, who shed the Blood of the innocent Jesus, and forget that there is One in heaven who is witness of their injustice and of His immolation. The high priests, the doctors of the Law, the dastardly Pontius Pilate, are here described as unjust judges, upon whose heads will fall the wrath of heaven.

Ant. Captabunt in ani- ^nt. They will hunt after good fbidat: tbnebrjk

4S9 mam justi, et sanguinem innocentem condemnabunt. the soul of the Just; and will condemn innocent Blood.

Psalm

Dens ultionnm Dominus: Dens ultionnm libere egit.

Exaltare qui judicas terrain: redde retributionem superbis.

Usquequo pecca tores Domine: usquequo peccatores gloriabuntur?

Effabuntur et loquentur iniquitatem: loquentur omnes qui operantur injustitiam?

Populura tuum, Domine, humiliaverunt: et h»reditatem tuam vexaverunt.

Viduam et advenam interfecerunt: et pupillos occiderunt.

Et dixerunt: Non videbit Dominus : nec intelliget Deus Jacob.

Intelligite insipiontes in populo: et stulti aliquando sapite.

Qui plantavit aurem, non audiet: aut qui finxit oculum, non considerat?

Qui corripit gentes, non argue t: qui docet hominem scientiam?

Dominus scit cogitationes hominum: quoniam vanes sunt.

Beatus homo, quern tu erudieris, Domine: et de lege tua docueris eum.

Ut mitiges ei a diebus

The Lord is the God to whom revenge belongeth: the God of revenge acted freely.

Lift up thyself, thou that judgest the earth: render a reward to the proud.

How long shall the wicked, 0 Lord, how long shall the wicked make their boast ?

How long shall they utter and speak wrong things: how long shall the workers of iniquity talk ?

Thy people, 0 Lord, they have brought low: and they have afflicted thy inheritance.

They have slain the widow and the stranger: and they have murdered the fatherless.

And they have said : The Lord shall not see : neither shall the God of Jacob understand.

Understand, ye senseless among the people: and you fools be wise at last.

He that planted the ear, shall he not hear: or he that formed the eye, doth he not consider?

He that chastiseth nations, shall he not rebuke: he that teacheth man knowledge?

The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain.

Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord : and shalt teach him out of thy law.

That thou mayst give him. malis: donee fodiatur peccatori fovea.

Quia non repellet Dominus plebem suam: et haereditatem suam non derelinquet.

Quoadusque justitia convertatur in judicium: et qui juxta illam omnes qui recto sunt corde.

Quis consurget mihi adversusmalignantes: autquis stabit mecum adversus operantes iniquitatem?

Nisi quia Dominus adjuvit me: paulo minus habitasset in inferno anima mea.

Si dicebam: Motus est pes meus: misericordia tua, Domine, adjuvabat me.

Secundum multitudinem dolorum meorum in corde meo: consolationes tuse laetificaverunt animam meam.

Numquid adhseret tibi sedes iniquitatis: quifingislaborem in prsecepto?

Captabunt in animam justi: et sanguinem innocentem condemnabunt.

Et factus est mihi Dominus in refugium: et Deus meus in adjutorium spei me©.

Et reddet illis iniquitatem ipsorum: et in malitia eorum disperdet eos: disperdet illos Dominus Deus nostor.

Ant. Captabunt in animam justi, et sanguinem innocentem condemnabunt.

"f. Locuti sunt adversum me lingua dolosa. rest from the evil days: till a pit be dug for the wicked,

For the Lord-will not cast off his people: neither will he forsake his own inheritance.

Until justice be turned into judgment: and they that are near it are all the upright of heart.

Who shall rise up for me against the evil doers? or who shall stand with me against the workers of iniquity?

Unless the Lord had been my helper: my soul had almost dwelt in hell.

If I said: my foot is moved: thy mercy, 0 Lord, assisted me.

According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart: thy comforts have given joy to my soul.

Doth the seat of iniquity stick to thee, who framest labour in commandment?

They will hunt after the soul of the just: and will condemn innocent blood.

But the Lord is my refuge: and my God the help of my hope.

And he will render to them their iniquity: and in their malice he will destroy them: yea, the Lord our God will destroy them.

Ant. They will hunt after the soul of the Just: and will condemn innocent Blood. f. They have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue,

GOOD FRIDAY '. TENBBRJ!

. Bp. Et sermonibus odii ]$r. And they hare comcircumdederunt me, et ex- passed me about with words pugnaverunt me gratis. of hatred, and have fought against me without cause.

Here is said the Pater noster in secret.

For the lessons of this nocturn, the Church has selected a passage from the Epistle to the Hebrews, where St. Paul speaks of the Son of God having become our High Priest and Mediator with the Father, by the shedding of His Blood. This precious Blood blots out our sins, and opens heaven to us, which Adam's sin had closed against us.

SEVENTH LESSON

De Epistola Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Hebroos.

Cap. iv. et t>. Festinemus ingredi in illam requiem: ut ne in idipsum quis incidat incredulitatis exemplum. Vivus est enim sermo Dei, et efficax, et penetrabilior omni gladio ancipiti: et pertingens usque ad divisionem animae ac spiritus, compagum quoque ac medullarum, et discretor cogitationum et intentionum cordis. Et non est ulla creatura invisibilis in conspectu ejus: omnia autem nuda et aperta sunt oculis ejus, ad quern nobis sermo. Habentes ergo Pontificem magnum, qui penetravit coelos, Jesum Filium Dei, teneamus confessionem. Non enim habemus Pontificem <jui non possit

From the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle, to the Hebrews.

Ch. iv. and v. Let us hasten therefore to enter into that rest: lest any man fall into the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any twoedged sword, and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also, and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature invisible in his sight: but all things are naked and open to his eyes, to whom our speech is. Having therefore a great High Priest that hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a High Priest who

PASStONTIDE AND HOLY WEEK compati infirmitatibus nostris: tentatum autem per omnia pro similitudine absque peccata.

Tradiderunt me in manus impiorum, et inter iniquos projecerunt me, et non pepercerunt animas meae : congregati sunt adversum me fortes: ° Et sicut gigantes steterunt contra me.

"f. Alieni insurrexerunt adversum me, et fortes qu»sierunt animam meam.

° Et sicut gigantes steterunt contra me. cannot have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.

]$r. They delivered me into the hands of the impious and cast me out among the wicked, and spared not my life: the powerful gathered together against me: ° And like giants they stood against me.

J. Strangers have risen up against me, and the mighty have sought my soul.

° And like giants they stood against me.

EIGHTH LESSON

Adeamus ergo cum fiducia ad thronum gratiae: ut misericordiam consequamur, et gratiam inveniamus in auxilio opportuno. Omnis namque pontif ex ex hominibus assumptus, pro hominibus constituitur in iis quae sunt ad Deum, ut offerat dona et sacrificia pro peccatis: qui condolere possit iis qui ignorant et errant: quoniam et ipse circumdatus est infirmitate. Et propterea debet, quemadmodum pro populo, ita etiam et pro semetipso offeree pro peccatis. ty. Jesum tradidit impius summis principibus sacerdotum, et senioribus populi: ° Petrus autem sequebatur eum a longe, ut videret finem. f. Adduxenmt autein

Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace : that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid. For every high priest taken from among men, is appointed for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on them that are ignorant, and that err: because he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And therefore he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. ty. The wicked man betrayed Jesus to the chief priests and elders of the people : ° But Peter followed him afar off, that he might see the end. t. And they led him to

GOOD FRIDAY : TKNKB&S eum ad CaTpham principem sacerdotum, ubi scribae et pharisaei convenerant.

° Petrus autem sequebatur eum a longe, ut videret finem.

NINTH

Nec quisquam sum it sibi honorem sed qui vocatur a Deo, tanquam Aaron. Sic et Christus non semetipsum clarificavit ut pontifex fieret: sed qui locutus est ad eum: Filius meus es tu, ego hodie genui te. Quemadmodum et in alio loco dicit: Tu es sacerdos in seternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech. Qui in diebus carnis susb, preces, supplicationesque ad eum, qui possit ilium salvum f acere a morte, cum clamore valido et lacrymis offerens, exauditus est pro sua reverentia. Et quidem cum esset Filius Dei, didicit ex iis, que passus est, obedientiam: et consummate, factu est omnibus obtemperautibus sibi, causa salutis ©tern®, appellatus a Deo pontifex juxta ordinem Melchisedech.

Ity Caligaverunt oculi mei a fletu meo: quia elongatus est a me, qui consolabatur me. Videte omnes populi, ° Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus. f. Q vos omnes qui trans*-

Caiphas the high priest, where the scribes and pharisees were met together.

° But Peter followed him afar off, that he might see the end.

Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself that he might be made a high priest: but he that said unto him: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place : Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech. Who in the days of his flesh, with a strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and supplications to him that was able to save him from death, was heard for his reverence: and whereas indeed he was the Son of God, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered: and being consummated he became, to all that obey him, the cause of eternal salvation, called by God a high-priest according to the order of Melchisedech.

1$?. My eyes are darkened by my tears: for he is far from me that comforted me. See all ye people, ° If there be sorrow like unto my sorrow. f . 0 all ye that pass by itis per viam, attendite et videte.

° Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meu.

Here is repeated: Caligaverunt oculi mei. the way, behold and see,

• If there be sorrow like unto my sorrow.

Here is repeated: My eyes are darkened.

LAUDS

The first psalm of Lauds is the Mixerere, as yesterday, page 336. It is sung to the following antiphon:

Ant. Proprio Filio suo Ant. God spared not his non pepercit Deus, sed pro own Son, but delivered him nobis omnibus tradidit ilium, up for us all.

The second psalm is one of those that were oomposed by David during the time of Absalom's rebellion. It is one of the psalms of Friday's ferial Lauds throughout the year; and is appropriate to the mystery of to-day, inasmuch as it expresses how the Messias was abandoned by His disciples, and how confidently He hoped in God.

Ant. Anxiatus est super Ant. My spirit is in anme spiritus meus, in me tur- guish within me, my heart batum est cor meum. within me is troubled.

Psalm 142

Domine,exaudiorationem Hear, 0 Lord, my prayer, meam: auribus percipe ob- give ear to my supplication secrationem meam in veri- in thy truth: hear me in thy tate tua: exaudi me in tua justice, justitia.

Et non intres in judicium And enter not into judg- cum servo tuo: quia non ment with thy servant: for in justificabitur in conspectu thy sight no man living shall tuo omnis vivens. be justified.

Quia persecutus est ini- For the enemy hath perse- micus animam meam : humj- cuted my soul ; he hath brought

GOOD fRIDATf: TENKBR-S liavit in terra vitam meam.

Collocavit me in obscnris sicut mortnos s»culi: et anxiatus est super me spiritus meus, in me turbatum est cor meum.

Memor fui dierum antiquorum, meditatus sum in omnibus operibus tuis: in factis manuum tuarum meditabar.

Expandi manus meas ad te: anima mea sicut terra sine aqua tibi.

Yelociter exaudi me Domine: defecit spiritus meus.

Non avertas faciem toam a me: et similis ero descendentibus in lacum.

Auditam fac mihi mane misericordiam tuam: quia in te speravi.

Notam fac mihi viam in qua ambulem: quia ad te levavi animam meam.

Eripe me de inimicis meis, Domine, ad te confugi: doce me facere voluntatem tuam, quia Deus meus es tu.

Spiritus tuus bonus deducet me in terrain rectam: propter nomen tuum, Domine, vivificabis me in aequitate tua.

Educes de tribulatione animam meam: et in misericordia tua disperdes inimicos meos.

Et perdes omnes qui tribulant animam meam: quoniam ego servus tuus sum.

Ant. Anxiatus est super down my life to the earth.

He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been dead of old; and my spirit is in anguish within me, my heart within me is troubled.

I remembered the days of old, I meditated on all thy works, I mused upon the works of thy hands.

I stretched forth my hands to thee: my soul is as earth without water unto thee.

Hear me speedily, 0 Lord: my spirit hath fainted away.

Turn not away thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.

Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning: for in thee have I hoped.

Make the way known to me wherein I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to thee.

Deliver me from my enemies, 0 Lord, to thee have I fled: teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God.

Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land: for thy name's sake, 0 Lord, thou wilt quicken me in thy justice.

Thou wilt bring my soul out of troubles: and in thy mercy thou wilt destroy my enemies.

And thou wilt cut off all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

Ant. My spirit is in ansa* guish within me, my within me is troubled. heart me spiritu meus, et in me turbatum est cor meum. de- Ant. Ait latro ad latro- Ant. Nos quidem digna

The third psalm celebrates the great mystery of the Redemption accomplished on this day, the struction of sin, and the propitiation of God s offended majesty. It is sung to the following antiphon: The thief said to the thief: We, indeed, receive the nem factis recipimus: hie autem quid fecit? Memento mei, Domine, dum veneris in regnum tuum. due reward of our deeds ; but what has this Man done? Remember me, 0 Lord, when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.

Psalm 84

Benedixisti, Domine, terrain tuam : avertisti captivitatem Jacob.

Remisisti iniquitatem plebis tuae : operuisti omnia peccata eorum.

Mitigasti omnem iram tuam : avertisti ab ira indignationis tuse.

Converte nos, Deus, salutaris noster : et averte iram tuam a nobis.

Numquid in seternum irasceris nobis? aut extendes iram tuam a generatione in generationem?

Deus, tu conversus vivificabis nos: et plebs tua laetabitur in te.

Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam : et salutare tuum da nobis.

Audiam quid loquatur in meDominusDeus: quoniam loquetur pacem in plebem

Thou hast blessed thy land, 0 Lord : thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.

Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people: thou hast covered all their sins.

Thou hast softened all thine anger: thou hast turned away from the wrath of thine indignation.

Convert us, 0 God our Saviour: and turn away thine anger from us.

Wilt thou be angry with us for ever: or wilt thou stretch out thy wrath from generation to generation?

Thou shalt turn again, 0 God, and quicken us: and thy people shall rejoice in thee.

Show us thy mercy, 0 Lord; and grant us thy salvation.

I will hearken to what the Lord shall say within me: for he will speak peace unto his people:

GOOD FRIDAY: TENEBILE

Et super sanctos suos: et in eos qui convertuntur ad cor.

Verumtamen prope timentes eum sal u tare ipsius: ut inhabitet gloria in terra nostra.

Misericordia et Veritas obviaverunt sibi: justitia et pax osculates sunt.

Veritas de terra orta est: et justitia de coelo prospexit.

Etenim Dominus dabit benignitatem: et terra nostra dabit f rue turn suum.

Justitia ante eum ambulabit: et ponet in via gressus

8UO8.

Ant. Ait latro ad latronem: Nos quidem digna factis recipimus: hie autem quid fecit? Memento mei, Domine, dum veneris in regnum tuum.

And unto his saints: and unto them that are converted in heart.

Surely his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him: that glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together: justice and peace have kissed each other.

Truth is sprung out of the earth: and justice hath looked down from heaven .

For the Lord shall give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit.

Justice shall walk before him; and shall set his steps in the way.

Ant. The thief said to the thief: We, indeed, receive the due reward of our deeds: but what has this Man done? Remember me, 0 Lord, when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.

The following oantiole is that of the prophet Habacuc ; it oomes in the ferial Lauds of Friday, for penitential seasons. It celebrates the victory of Christ over His enemies, when He shall come to judge the world ; and forms a sublime contrast with the humiliations which the Man-God suffers on this the day of His death.

Ant. Cum conturbata Ant. When my soul shall fuerit anima mea, Domine, be in trouble, O Lord! thou misericordi® memor eris. wilt be mindful of thy mercy.

CANTICLE OF HABACUC

Domine, audivi auditio- 0 Lord, I heard what thou nem tuam : et timui. madest me hear, and was afraid.

Pomine, opus tuum; in 0 Lord, thy work, in the medio annorum vivifica illud.

In medio annorum notum facies: cum iratus fueris, misericordiae recordaberis.

Deus ab austro veniet: et Sanctus de monte Pharan.

Operuit coelos gloria ejus: et laudis ejus plena est terra.

Splendor ejus ut lux erit: cornua in manibus ejus.

Ibi abscondita est fortitudo ejus: ante faciem ejus ibit mors.

Et egredietur diabolus ante pedes ejus: stetitetmensus est terrain.

Aspexit et dissolvit Gentes: et contriti sunt montes saeculi.

Incurvati sunt collesmundi: ab itineribus aBternitatis ejus.

Pro iniquitate vidi tentoria JEthiopiae: turbabuntur pelles terrae Madian.

Numquid in fluminibus iratus es, Domine: aut in fluminibus furor tuns, vel in mari indignatio tua?

Qui ascendes super equos tuos: et quadrigae tuae salvatio.

SuscitanB suscitabis arcum tuum: juramenta tribubus, quae locutus es.

Fluvios scindes terrae; vi- midst of the years bring it to life.

In the midst of the years thou shalt make it known: when thou art angry, thou wilt remember mercy.

God will come from the south, and the Holy One from mount Pharan.

His glory covered the heavens: and the earth is full of his praise.

His brightness shall be as the light: horns are in his hands.

There is his strength hid: death shall go before his face.

And the devil shall go forth before his feet: he stood and measured the earth.

He beheld, and melted the nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces.

The hills of the world were bowed down, by the journeys of his eternity.

I saw the tents of ^Ethiopia for their iniquity: the curtains of the land of Madian shall be troubled.

Wast thou angry, 0 Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath upon the rivers? or thy indignation in the sea?

Who wilt ride upon thy horses: and thy chariots are salvation.

Thou wilt surely take up thy bow according to the oaths which thou hast spoken to the tribes.

Thou wilt divide the rivers

GOOD FRIDAY: TENEBRJE derunt te et doluerunt montes: gorges aquarum transiit.

Dedit abyssus vocem suam: altitudo manus suas levavit.

Sol et luna steterunt in habitaculo suo: in luce sagittarum tuarum, ibunt in splendore f ulgurantis hastae tuae.

In fremitu conculcabis terram : et in furore obstupefacies Gentes.

Egressus es in salutem populi tui: in salutem cum Christo tuo.

Percussisti caput de domo impii: denudasti fundamentum ejus usque ad collum.

Maledixisti sceptris ejus, capiti bellatorum ejus: venientibus ut turbo ad dispergendum me.

Exsultatio eorum: sicut ejus qui devorat pauperem in abscondito.

Viam f ecisti in mari equis tuis: in luto aquarum multarum.

Audivi et conturbatus est venter meus: a voce contremuerunt labia mea.

Ingrediatur putredo in ossibus meis: et subter me scateat.

Ut requiescam in die tribulationis: ut ascendam ad populum accinctum nostrum. of the earth: the mountains saw thee and were grieved: the great body of waters passed away.

The deep put forth its voice: the deep lifted up its hands.

The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation, in the light of thy arrows, they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering spear.

In thy anger thou wilt tread the earth under foot: in thy wrath thou wilt astonish the nations.

Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, for salvation with thy Christ.

Thou struckest the head of the house of the wicked : thou hast laid bare his foundation even to the neck.

Thou hast cursed his sceptres, the head of his warriors, them that came out as a whirlwind to scatter me.

Their joy was like that of him that devoureth the poor man in secret.

Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses, in the mud of many waters.

I have heard, and my bowels were troubled: my lips trembled at the voice.

Let rottenness enter into my bones, and swarm under me.

That I may rest in the day of tribulation : that I may go up to our people that are girded,

Ficus enim non florebit: et non erit germen in vineis.

Mentietur opus ofivas: et arva non afferent cibum.

Abscindetur de ovili pecus: et non erit armentum in praesepibus.

Ego autem in Domino gaudebo: et exsultabo in Deo Jesu meo.

Deus Dominus fortitudo mea: et ponet pedes meos quasi cervorum.

Et super excelsa mea deducet me victor: in psalmis canentem.

Ant. Cum conturbata f uerit anima mea, Domine, misericordiae memor eris.

For the fig-tree shall not blossom : and there shall be no spring in the vines.

The labour of the olive-tree shall fail: and the fields shall yield no food.

The flock shall be cut off from the fold: and there shall be no herd in the stalls.

But I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will rejoice in God my Jesus.

The Lord God is my strength: and he will make my feet like the feet of harts.

And he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places, singiDg psalms.

Ant. When my soul shall be in trouble, 0 Lord! thou wilt be mindful of thy mercy.

The last psalm, which belongs to the Lauds of Fridays, is sung to-day to the following antiphon:

Ant. Memento mei, Do- Ant. Remember me, 0 mine, dum veneris in regnum Lord, when thou shait come tuum. into thy kingdom.

Psalm 147

Lauda Jerusalem Dominum: Lauda Deum tuum Sion.

Quoniam conf ortavit seras portarum tuarum : benedixit filiis tui in te.

Qui posuit fines tuos pacem: et adipe frumenti satiat te.

Qui emittit eloquium suum terra: velociter currit sermo ejus.

Qui dat ni vem sicut lanam :

Praise the Lord, 0 Jerusalem: praise thy God, 0 Sion.

For He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates: he hath blessed thy children within thee.

Who hath made peace in thy borders: and filleth thee with the fat of corn.

Who sendeth forth his speech upon the earth: his word runneth very swiftly.

Who giveth snow lifce wool;

GOOD FRIDAY: TENEBRJE nebulam sicut cinerem spargit.

Mittit crystallum suam sicut buccellas: ante faciem frigoris ejus quia sustinebit?

Emittet verbum suum, et liquefaciet ea: Habit spiritus ejus et fluent aquae.

Qui annuntiat verbum suum Jacob: justitias et judicia sua Israel.

Non fecit taliter omni nationi: et judicia sua non manifestavit eis.

Ant. Memento mei Domine, dum veneris in regnum tuum.

Collocavit me in obscuris.

]$r. Sicut mortuos sseculi. he scattereth mists like ashes.

He sendeth his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold?

He shall send out his word and shall melt them: his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run.

Who declareth his word unto Jacob: his justice and judgments unto Israel.

He hath not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them.

Ant. Remember me, 0 Lord, when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.

It. He hath made me to dwell in darkness. ty. As those that have been dead of old.

After this versicle, is sung the oantiole Benedicts (see page 347) with the following antiphon:

Ant. Posuerunt super Ant. caput ejus causam ipsius scriptam: Jesus Nazarenus Rex Jud®orum.

They put over his head his cause written: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

This antiphon having been repeated after the canticle, the choir sings, to a touching melody, the following words. She repeats them at the end of all the Canonical Hours of these three days, adding to them each day. The addition for to-day is, that the death which our Saviour deigned to suffer for us was the most disgraceful and painful of all deaths — the death of the cross. f. Christus f actus est pro t. Christ became, for our nobis obediens usque ad mor- sake, obedient unto death , even tern, mortem autem crucis. to the death of the cross.

Then is said, in secret, the Pater nosier, which is followed by the Miserere (page 336). This psalm is not sung, but only recited as explained in yesterday's Tenebr®. As soon as the Miserere is finished, the following prayer is said by the first in dignity:

Respice, quaesumus, Do- Look down, 0 Lord, we mine, super hanc familiam beseech thee, upon this thy tuam: pro qua Dominus family, for which our Lord noster Jesus Christus non Jesus Christ hesitated not to dubitavit manibus tradi be delivered into the hands nocentium, et crucis subire of wicked men, and to undergo tormentum: the punishment of the cross:

( then the rest in secret :)

Qui tecum vivit et regnat, Who liveth and reigneth in unitate Spiritus sancti, with thee, in the unity of the

Deus, per omnia saecula Holy G-host, God, world with- saculorum. Amen. out end. Amen.

THE MORNING

The sun has risen upon Jerusalem. But the priests and scribes have not waited all this time without venting their rage upon J esus. Annas, who was the first to receive the divine Captive, has had Him taken to his son-in-law Caiphas, the high priest. Here He is put through a series of insulting questions, which disdaining to answer, He reoeives a blow from one of the high priest's servants. False witnesses had already been prepared: they now oome forward, and depose their lies against Him who is the very Truth: but their testimony is contradictory. Then Caiphas, seeing that this plan for convicting Jesus of blasphemy is only serving to expose his accomplices, turns to another. He asks Him a question, which will oblige our Lord to make an answer ; and in this answer he, Caiphas, will discover blasphemy, and blasphemy will bring Jesus under the power of the fcOOi) FRIDAY : MORNING

Synagogue. This is the question: *I adjure Thee, by the living God, that Thou tell us, if Thou be the Christ the Son of God ! 1 Our Saviour, in order to teaoh us that we should show respect to those who are in authority, breaks the silenoe He has hitherto observed, and answers: 4 Thou hast said it: I am: and hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven/2 Hereupon, the impious pontiff rises, rends his garments, and exclaims: * He hath blasphemed! What further need have we of witnesses ? Behold ! now ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye?' The whole place resounds with the cry: * He is guilty of death ! ,

The Son of God has oome down upon the earth in order to restore man to life ; and yet, here we have this creature of death daring to summon his divine Benefactor before a human tribunal, and condemning Him to death ! And Jesus is silent, and bears with these presumptuous, these ungrateful, blasphemers ! Well may we exclaim, in the words wherewith the Greek Church frequently interrupts to-day's reading of the Passion: * Glory be to thy patienoe, 0 Lord ! 9

Scarcely have the terrible words, 4 He is guilty of death,' been uttered, than the servants of the high priest rush upon Jesus. They spit upon Him, and blindfolding Him, they strike Him, saying: 'Prophesy, who is it that struck Thee P'4 Thus does the Synagogue treat the Messias, who, they say, is to be their glory ! And yet, these outrages, frightful as they are, are but the beginning of what our Redeemer has to go through.

But there is something far more trying than all this to the heart of Jesus, and it is happening at this

1 St. Matt. xxyi. 63. * St. Matt. xxvi. 65, 66.

' Ibid. 64.— St. Mark xiv. 62. * St. Luke zziL 64. very time. Peter has made his way as far as the oourt of the high priest's palace. He is reoognized by the bystanders as a Galilean, and one of Jesus' disciples. The apostle trembles for his life; he denies his Master, and affirms with an oath that he does not even know Him. What a sad example is here of the punishment of presumption ! But Jesus has meroy on His apostle. The servants of the high priest lead Him near to the place where Peter is standing ; He oasts upon him a look of reproach and pardon; Peter immediately goes forth, and weeps bitterly. From this hour forward he can do nothing but lament his sin ; and it is only on Easter morning, when Jesus shall appear to him after His Resurrection, that he will admit any consolation to his afflioted heart. Let us make him our model, now that we are spending these hours, with our holy mother the Church, in contemplating the Passion of Jesus. Peter withdraws, because he fears his own weakness ; let us remain to the end, for what have we to fear P May our Jesus give us one of those looks, whioh oan change the hardest and worst of hearts !

Meanwhile, the day-dawn breaks upon the oity, and the chief priests make arrangements for taking J esus before the Roman governor. They themselves have found Him guilty ; they have condemned TTi'th as a blasphemer, and according to the Law of Moses a blasphemer must be stoned to death. But they cannot apply the law: Jerusalem is no longer free, or governed by her own laws. The power over life and death may be exercised only by her oonquerors, and that in the name of Caesar. How is it that these priests and scribes oan go through all this, and never onoe remember the prophecy of Jacob, that the Messias would oome when the sceptre should be taken

GOOD PUT DAY : MORNING

Away from JudaP1 They know off by heart, they Are the appointed guardians of, those prophecies, whioh describe the death to whioh this Messias is to be put ; and yet, they are the very ones who bring it about ! How is all this P They are blind, and it is jealousy that blinds them.

The rumour of Jesus' having been seized during the night, and that He is on the point of being led before the Roman governor, rapidly spreads through the city, and reaches Judas' ears. This wretched man had a passion for money, but there was nothing to make him desire the death of his divine Master. He knew Jesus' supernatural power. He perhaps flattered himself that He, who could command nature and the elements, would easily escape from the hands of His enemies. But now when he sees that He does not escape, and that He is to be condemned to death, he runs to the temple, and gives baok the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests. Is it that he is converted, and is about to ask his Master to pardon him P Alas, no ! Despair has possession of him, and he puts an end to his existence. The recollection of all the merciful solicitations made to him, yesterday, by Jesus, both during the last Supper, and in the garden, fives him no confidence ; it only serves to increase his despair. Surely, he well knew what a merciful Saviour he had to deal with ! And yet, he despairs, and this at the very time when the Blood, which washes away the sins of the whole world, is about to be shed ! He is lost, because he despaired.

The chief priests, taking Jesus with them, present themselves at the governor's palace, demanding audience for a case of importance. Pilate comes forward, and peevishly asks them: 'What accusation bring ye against this Man P' They answer: 4 If He were jxot ft qaalefaotor, we would not have delivered £lim 1 Gen. xlix. 10, up to thee.' It is very evident, from these first words, that Pilate has a contempt for these Jewish priests ; it is not less evident that they are determined to gain their cause. 'Take Him you/ says Pilate, 'and judge Him according to your Law.' The chief priests answer: 'It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.'1

Pilate leaves the hall, in order to speak with these men. He returns, and commands Jesus to be brought in. The Son of God and the representative of the pagan world are face to faoe. Pilate begins by asking Him: 'Art Thou the King of the Jews?' To tins Jesus thus replies: 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now My kingdom is not from hence'. ' Art Thou a King, then P ' says Pilate. ' Thou sayest,' answers Jesus, ' that I am a King/ Having, by these last words, confessed His august dignity, our Lord offers a graoe to this Roman ; He tells him that there is something worthier of man's ambition than earthly honours. 'For this,' says Jesus, 'was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should rive testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice.' 'What is truth?' asks Pilate; but without waiting for the answer, he leaves Jesus, for he is anxious to have done with this case. He returns to the Jews, and says to them: ' I find no cause in Him.'3 Pilate fancies that this Jesus must be a leader of some Jewish seot, whose teachings give offenoe to the ohief priests, but which are not worth his examining into them: yet at the same time, he is convinced that He is a harmless Man, and that it would be foolish and unjust to accuse Him of disturbing the state.