Wednesday 13 February 2013

Feria IV Cinerum ~ I. classis



Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.
Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.





From divinumofficium:

Oratio
V. Dóminus vobíscum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.
Orémus.
Præsta, Dómine, fidélibus tuis: ut ieiuniórum veneránda sollémnia, et cóngrua pietáte suscípiant, et secúra devotióne percúrrant.
Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, Filium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.
R. Amen.

Collect
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Grant, O Lord, that Your faithful people may, with true piety, undertake the time-honored custom of fasting and may carry it out with unwavering devotion.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
R. Amen.


Lectio
Léctio Ioélis Prophétæ.
Ioel 2:12-19
Hæc dicit Dóminus: Convertímini ad me in toto corde vestro, in ieiúnio, et in fletu, et in planctu. Et scíndite corda vestra, et non vestiménta vestra, et convertímini ad Dóminum, Deum vestrum: quia benígnus et miséricors est, pátiens, et multæ misericórdiæ, et præstábilis super malítia. Quis scit, si convertátur, et ignóscat, et relínquat post se benedictiónem, sacrifícium et libámen Dómino, Deo vestro? Cánite tuba in Sion, sanctificáte ieiúnium, vocáte coetum, congregáte pópulum, sanctificáte ecclésiam, coadunáte senes, congregáte parvulos et sugéntes úbera: egrediátur sponsus de cubíli suo, et sponsa de thálamo suo. Inter vestíbulum et altare plorábunt sacerdótes minístri Dómini, et dicent: Parce, Dómine, parce pópulo tuo: et ne des hereditátem tuam in oppróbrium, ut dominéntur eis natiónes. Quare dicunt in pópulis: Ubi est Deus eórum? Zelátus est Dóminus terram suam, et pepércit pópulo suo. Et respóndit Dóminus, et dixit populo suo: Ecce, ego mittam vobis fruméntum et vinum et óleum, et replebímini eis: et non dabo vos ultra oppróbrium in géntibus: dicit Dóminus omnípotens.
R. Deo gratias

Lesson
Lesson from the book of Joel
Joel 2:12-19
Thus says the Lord: Return to Me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is He, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. Perhaps He will again relent and leave behind Him a blessing, offerings and libations for the Lord, your God. Blow the trumpet in Sion! proclaim a fast, call an assembly; gather the people, notify the congregation; assemble the elders, gather the children and the infants at the breast; let the bridegroom quit his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the porch and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep, and say, ‘Spare, O Lord, Your people, and make not Your heritage a reproach, with the nations ruling over them! Why should they say among the peoples: Where is their God?’ Then the Lord was stirred to concern for His land and took pity on His people. The Lord answered and said to His people: See, I will send you grain, and wine, and oil, and you shall be filled with them; no more will I make you a reproach among the nations, say the Lord almighty.
R. Thanks be to God.




From
The Liturgical Year
by Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.

We learn from this magnificent passage of the prophet Joel how acceptable to God is the expiation of fasting. When the penitent sinner inflicts corporal penance upon himself, God's justice is appeased. We have a proof of it in the Ninivites. If the Almighty pardoned an infidel city, as Ninive was, solely because its inhabitants sought for mercy under the garb of penance; what will He not do in favour of His own people, who offer Him the twofold sacrifice, exterior works of mortification, and true contrition of heart? Let us, then, courageously enter on the path of penance. We are living in an age when, through want of faith and [want] of fear of God, those practices which are as ancient as Christianity itself, and on which we might almost say it was founded, are falling into disuse; it behooves us to be on our guard, lest we, too, should imbibe the false principles, which have so fearfully weakened the Christian spirit. Let us never forget our own personal debt to the divine justice, which will remit neither our sins nor the punishment due to them, except inasmuch as we are ready to make satisfaction. We have just been told that these bodies, which we are so inclined to pamper, are but dust; and as to our souls, which we are so often tempted to sacrifice by indulging the flesh, they have claims upon the body, claims of both restitution and obedience.



Sequéntia sancti Evangélii secúndum Matthaeum.
R. Gloria tibi Domine!
Matt 6:16-21
In illo témpore: Dixit Iesus discípulis suis: Cum ieiunátis, nolíte fíeri, sicut hypócritæ, tristes. Extérminant enim fácies suas, ut appáreant homínibus ieiunántes. Amen, dico vobis, quia recepérunt mercédem suam. Tu autem, cum ieiúnas, unge caput tuum, et fáciem tuam lava, ne videáris homínibus ieiúnans, sed Patri tuo, qui est in abscóndito: et Pater tuus, qui videt in abscóndito, reddet tibi. Nolíte thesaurizáre vobis thesáuros in terra: ubi ærúgo et tínea demólitur: et ubi fures effódiunt et furántur. Thesaurizáte autem vobis thesáuros in coelo: ubi neque ærúgo neque tínea demólitur; et ubi fures non effódiunt nec furántur. Ubi enim est thesáurus tuus, ibi est et cor tuum.
R. Laus tibi, Christe!
S. Per Evangelica dicta, deleantur nostra delicta.

Gospel
Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
R. Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
Matt. 6:16-21
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, who disfigure their face in order to appear to men as fasting. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But you, when you do fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth consume, and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth consumes, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
R. Praise be to Thee, O Christ.
S. By the words of the Gospel may our sins be blotted out.


From
The Liturgical Year
by Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.

Our Redeemer would not have us receive the announcement of the great fast as one of sadness and melancholy. The Christian who understands what a dangerous thing it is to be behindhand with divine justice, welcomes the season of Lent with joy; it consoles him. He knows that if he be faithful in observing what the Church prescribes, his debt will be less heavy upon him. These penances, these satisfactions (which the indulgence of the Church has rendered so easy), being offered to God unitedly with those of our Savour Himself, and being rendered fruitful by that holy fellowship which blends into one common propitiatory sacrifice the good works of all the members of the Church militant, will purify our souls, and make them worthy to partake in the grand Easter joy. Let us not, then, be sad because we are to fast; let us be sad only because we have sinned and made fasting a necessity. In this same Gospel, our Redeemer gives us a second counsel, which the Church will often bring before us during the whole course of Lent: it is that of joining almsdeeds with our fasting. He bids us to lay up treasures in heaven. For this, we need intercessors; let us seek them amidst the poor.



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