QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY
The Liturgical Year
Ven. Abbot Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.
The Church gives us today
another subject for our meditation: it is the vocation of Abraham. When the
waters of the deluge had subsided, and mankind had once more peopled the earth,
the immorality, which had previously excited God’s anger, again grew rife among
men. Idolatry, too, into which the antediluvian race had not fallen, now showed
itself, and human wickedness seemed thus to have reached the height of its
malice. Foreseeing that the nations of the earth would fall into rebellion
against Him, God resolved to select one people that should be peculiarly His,
and among whom should be preserved those sacred truths, which the Gentiles were
to lose sight of. This new people was to originate from one man, who would be the
father and model of all future believers. This was Abraham. His faith and
devotedness merited for him that he should be chosen to be the father of the
children of God, and the head of that spiritual family, to which belong all the
elect of both the old and the new Testament.
It is necessary, therefore, that we should
know Abraham, our father and our model. This is his grand characteristic:
fidelity to God, submissiveness to His commands, abandonment and sacrifice of
everything in order to obey His holy will. Such ought to be the prominent
virtues of every Christian.
Abraham, 1754. Gesuati Church (Our Lady of the Rosary), Venice
Let us, then,
study the life of our great patriarch, and learn the lessons it teaches.
The following
passage from the Book of Genesis, which the Church gives us in her Matins of
today, will serve as the text of our considerations.
From the Book of Genesis
Chapter 12
And, the Lord said to Abram: Go
forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred and out of thy father’s house,
and come into the land which I shall show thee. And I will make of thee a great
nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee
shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed. So Abram went out as the Lord
had commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when
he went forth from Haran. And he took Sarai his wife, and Lot, his brother’s
son, and all the substance which they had gathered, and the souls which they
had gotten in Haran: and they went out to go into the land of Chanaan. And when
they were come into it, Abram passed through the country into the place of Sichem,
as far as the noble vale: now the Chanaanite was at that time in the land. And
the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: To thy seed will I give this land.
And he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
And passing on from thence to a
mountain, that was on the east side of Bethel, he here pitched his tent, having
Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east. He built there, also, an altar to the
Lord, and called upon his name.
Could the Christian have a finer
model than this holy patriarch, whose docility and devotedness in following the
call of his God are so perfect? We are forced to exclaim, with the holy
fathers: ‘0 true Christian, even before Christ had come on the earth! He had
the spirit of the Gospel, before the Gospel was preached! He was an apostolic
man before the apostles existed!’ God calls him: he leaves all things—his
country, his kindred, his father’s house—and he goes into an unknown land. God
leads him, he is satisfied; he fears no difficulties; he never once looks back.
Did the apostles themselves more? But see how grand is his reward! God says to
him: ‘In thee shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed.’ This Chaldean is to
give to the world Him that shall bless and save it. Death will, it is true,
close his eyes ages before the dawning of that day, when one of his race, who is
to be born of a Virgin and be united personally with the divine Word, shall
redeem all generations, past, present, and to come. But meanwhile, till heaven
shall be thrown open to receive this Redeemer and the countless just who have
won the crown,
Abraham shall be honoured, in
the limbo of expectation, in a manner becoming his great virtue and merit. It
is in his bosom, that is, around him, that our first parents (having atoned for
their sin by penance), Noah, Moses, David, and all the just, including poor Lazarus,
received that rest and happiness, which were a foretaste of, and a preparation
for, eternal bliss in heaven. Thus is Abraham honoured; thus does God requite
the love and fidelity of them that serve Him.
When the fullness of time came, the Son of
God, who was also Son of Abraham, declared His eternal Father’s power, by
saying that He was about to raise up a new progeny of Abraham’s children from the
very stones, that is, from the Gentiles. We Christians are this new generation.
But are we worthy children of our father? Let us listen to the apostle of the
Gentiles: ‘By faith, Abraham, when called (by God), obeyed to go out into a
place, which he was to receive for an inheritance: and he went out not knowing
whither he went. By faith, he abode in the land, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and
Jacob, the co-heirs of the same promise; for he looked for a city that hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God.’
If, therefore, we be children of Abraham,
we must, as the Church tells us during Septuagesima, look upon ourselves as
exiles on the earth, and dwell by hope and desire in that true country of ours,
from which we are now banished, but towards which we are each day drawing
nigher, if, like Abraham, we are faithful in the various stations allotted us
by our Lord. We are commanded to use this world as though we used it not; to
have an abiding conviction of our not having here a lasting city, and of the
misery and danger we incur when we forget that death is one day to separate us
from everything we possess in this life.
How far from being true children of
Abraham are those Christians who spend this and the two following days in
intemperance and dissipation, because Lent is soon to be upon us! We can easily
understand how the simple manners of our Catholic forefathers could keep a
leave-taking of the ordinary way of living, which Lent was to put a stop to,
and reconcile their innocent carnival with Christian gravity; just as we can
understand how their rigorous observance of the laws of the Church for Lent
would inspire certain festive customs at Easter. Even in our own times, a
joyous shrovetide is not to be altogether reprobated, provided the Christian sentiment
of the approaching holy season of Lent be strong enough to check the 'evil
tendency of corrupt nature; otherwise the original intention of an innocent custom
would be perverted, and the forethought of penance could in no sense be considered
as the prompter of our joyous farewell to ease and comforts. While admitting
all this, we would ask, what right or title have they to share in these
shrovetide rejoicings, whose Lent will pass and find them out of the Church, because
they will not have complied with the precept of Easter Communion? And they,
too, who claim dispensations from abstinence and fasting during Lent, and, for one
reason or another, evade every penitential exercise during the solemn forty
days of penance, and will find themselves at Easter as weighed down by the guilt
and debt of their sins as they were on Ash Wednesday—what meaning, we would
ask, can there possibly be in their feast-making at shrovetide?
Oh! that Christians would stand on their
guard against such delusions as these, and gain that holy liberty of children of
God, which consists in not being slaves to flesh and blood, and preserves man from
moral degradation! Let them remember that we are now in that holy season, when
the Church denies herself her songs of holy joy, in order the more forcibly to
remind us that we are living in a Babylon of spiritual danger, and to excite us
to regain that genuine Christian spirit, which everything in the world around
us is quietly undermining. If the disciples of Christ are necessitated, by the
position they hold in society, to take part in the profane amusements of these
few days before Lent, let it be with a heart deeply imbued with the maxims of
the Gospel. If, for example, they are obliged to listen to the music of theatres
and concerts, let them imitate St. Cecily, who thus
sang, in her heart, in the midst of the excitement of worldly harmonies:
‘May my heart, O God, be pure, and let me not be confounded!’ Above all, let
them not countenance certain dances, which the
world is so eloquent in defending, because so evidently according to its own spirit;
and therefore they who encourage them will be severely
judged by Him, who has already pronounced
woe upon the world. Lastly, let those who must go, on these days, and mingle in the company of worldlings, be guided by
St. Francis of Sales, who advises them to
think, from time to time, on such considerations
as these:—that while all these frivolous,
and often dangerous, amusements are going on,
there are countless souls being tormented in the
fire of hell, on account of the sins they
committed on similar occasions; that, at that very
hour of the night, there are many holy religious depriving
themselves of sleep in order to sing the divine
praises and implore God’s mercy upon the world,
and upon them that are wasting their time in
its vanities; that there are thousands in the agonies
of death, while all that gaiety is going on; that
God and His angels are attentively looking upon
this thoughtless group; and finally, that life is
passing away, and death so much nearer each moment.
We grant that,
on these three days immediately preceding the penitential season of Lent, some
provision was necessary to be made for those countless souls, who seem scarce
able to live without some excitement. The Church supplies this want. She
gives a substitute for frivolous amusements and dangerous
pleasures; and those of her children upon whom faith has not lost its
influence, will find, in what she offers them, a feast surpassing all earthly enjoyments,
and a means whereby to make amends to God for the insults
offered to His divine Majesty during these days
of carnival. The Lamb, that taketh away the
sins of the world, is exposed upon our altars. Here, on this His throne of mercy, He receives the homage of them who
come to adore
Him,
and acknowledge Him for their King; He accepts the repentance of those who come
to tell
Him how grieved they are at
having ever followed any other Master than Him;
He offers Himself to His eternal Father for poor sinners, who not only treat
His favours with indifference, but seem to have
made a resolution to offend Him during these days more than at any other period
of the year.
It
was the pious Cardinal Gabriel Paleotti, archbishop of Bologna, who first
originated the admirable devotion of the Forty Hours. He was a contemporary
of St. Charles Borromeo, and, like him, was eminent for his pastoral zeal. His
object in this solemn Exposition of the most blessed Sacrament was to offer to
the divine Majesty some compensation for the sins of men, and, at the very time
when the world was busiest in deserving His anger, to appease it by the sight
of His own Son, the Mediator between heaven and earth. St. Charles immediately introduced
the devotion into his own diocese and province. This was in the sixteenth
century. Later on, that is, in the eighteenth century, Prosper Lambertini was
archbishop of Bologna; he zealously continued the pious design of his ancient
predecessor, Paleotti, by encouraging his flock to devotion towards the blessed
Sacrament during the three days of carnival; and when he was made Pope, under
the name of Benedict XIV., he granted many
Indulgences to all who, during these days, should visit our Lord in this
mystery of His love, and should pray for the
pardon of sinners. This favour was, at first, restricted to the faithful
of the Papal States; but in the year 1765 it was extended, by Pope Clement XIII.,
to the universal Church. Thus, the Forty Hours’ Devotion
has spread throughout the whole world, and become one of the most solemn
expressions of Catholic piety. Let us, then, who have the opportunity, profit by
it during these last three days of our preparation for Lent. Let us, like
Abraham, retire from the distracting dangers of the
world, and seek the Lord our God. Let us go apart, for at least one
short hour, from the dissipation of earthly enjoyments, and, kneeling in the
presence of our Jesus, merit the grace to keep our hearts innocent and
detached, whilst sharing in those we cannot avoid.
We will now
resume our considerations upon the liturgy of Quinquagesima Sunday. The
passage of the Gospel selected by the Church, is that wherein our Saviour
foretells to His apostles the sufferings He was to undergo in Jerusalem. This
solemn announcement prepares us for Passiontide. We ought to receive it with
feeling and grateful hearts, and make it an additional motive for imitating the
devoted Abraham, and giving our whole selves to our God. The ancient liturgists
tell us that the blind man of Jericho spoken of in this same Gospel is a figure
of those poor sinners, who, during these days, are blind to their Christian
character, and rush into excesses, which even paganism would have coveted. The blind man recovered his sight, because he was aware
of his wretched state, and desired to be cured
and to see. The Church wishes us to have a like desire, and she promises us that it shall be granted.
In the Greek Church, this Sunday is called
Tyrophagos, because it is the last
day on which is allowed the use of white meats, or, as we call them,
milk-meats. Beginning with tomorrow, it is forbidden to eat them, for Lent then
begins, and with all the severity wherewith the oriental Churches observe it.
St. Romuald by Fra Angelico
ST. ROMUALD, ABBOT
The calendar’s list of martyrs
is interrupted for two days; the first of these is the feast of Romuald, the
hero of penance, the saint of the forests of Camaldoli. He is a son of the
great patriarch
St. Benedict, and, like him, is
the father of many children. The Benedictine family has a direct line from the
commencement, even to this present time; but, from the trunk of this venerable
tree there have issued four vigorous branches, to each of which the Holy Spirit
has imparted the life and fruitfulness of the parent stem. These collateral branches
of the Benedictine Order are: Camaldoli, by Romuald; Cluny, by Odo;
Vallombrosa, by John Gualbert; and Citeaux, by Robert of Molesmes.
The
saint of this seventh day of February is Romuald. The martyrs whom we meet with
on our way to Lent, give us an important lesson by the contempt
they had for this short life. But the teaching offered us by such holy penitents as the great abbot of Camaldoli is even
more practical than that of the martyrs. ‘They that are Christ’s’ says
the apostle, ‘have crucified their flesh, with its vices and concupiscences’; and
in these words he tells us what is the distinguishing character of every true
Christian. We repeat it: what a powerful encouragement we have in these models of
mortification, who have sanctified the deserts by their lives of heroic penance!
How they make us ashamed of our own cowardice,
which can scarcely bring itself to do the little that must be done to satisfy
God’s justice and merit His grace! Let us take the lesson to heart, cheerfully
offer our offended Lord the tribute of our repentance, and purify our souls by
works of mortification.
The Office for St. Romuald’s feast gives us the following sketch
of his life.
Romuald was the son of a
nobleman, named Sergius. He was born at Ravenna, and while yet a boy, withdrew
to the monastery of Classis, there to lead a life of penance. The conversation
of one of the religious increased in his soul his already ardent love of piety;
and after being twice favoured with a vision of St. Apollinaris, who appeared
to him, during the night, in the church which was dedicated to him, he entered
the monastic state, agreeably to the promise made him by the holy martyr. A few
years later on, he betook himself to a hermit named Marinus, who lived in the
neighbourhood of Venice, and was famed for his holy and austere life, that,
under such a master and guide, he might follow the narrow path of high
perfection.
Many were the snares laid for him by
Satan, and envious men molested him with their persecutions; but these things
only excited him to be more humble, and assiduous in fasting and prayer. In the
heavenly contemplation where with he was favoured, he shed abundant tears. Yet
such was the joy which ever beamed in his face, that it made all who looked at
him cheerful. Princes and kings held him in great veneration,
and his advice induced many to leave the world and its allurements, and live in
holy solitude. An ardent desire for martyrdom induced him to set out for
Pannonia; but a malady, which tormented him as often as he went forward, and
left him when he turned back, obliged him to abandon his design.
He wrought many miracles during his life,
as also after his death, and was endowed with the gift of prophecy. Like the
patriarch Jacob, he saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, on which
men, clad in white robes, ascended and descended. He interpreted this
miraculous 'vision as signifying the Camaldolese monks, whose founder he was.
At length, having reached the age of a hundred and twenty, after having served
his God by a life of most austere penance for a
hundred years, he went to his reward, in the year of our Lord one
thousand and twenty-seven. His body was found
incorrupt after it had been five years in the grave; and was then buried,
with due honour, in the church of his Order at Fabriano.
Faithful servant and friend of
God! how different was thy life from ours! We love the world and! Its
distractions. We think we do wonders if we give, each day, a passing thought to
our Creator, and make Him, at long intervals, the sole end of some one of our
occupations. Yet we know how each hour is bringing us nearer to that moment, when
we must stand before the divine tribunal, with our good and our evil works, to
receive the irrevocable sentence we shall have merited. Thou, Romuald, didst
not thus waste life away. It seemed to thee as though there were but one thought
and one interest worth living for: how best to serve thy God. Lest anything
should distract thee from this infinitely dear object, thou didst flee into the
desert. There, under the rule of the great patriarch, St. Benedict, thou
wagedst war against the flesh and the devil; thy tears washed away thy sins,
though so light if compared with what we have committed; thy soul, invigorated by
penance, was inflamed with the love of Jesus, for whose sake thou wouldst fain
have shed thy blood. We love to recount these thy merits, for they belong to us
in virtue of that communion which our Lord has so mercifully established between
saints and sinners. Assist us, therefore, during the penitential season, which
is soon to be upon us. The justice of God will not despise our feeble efforts,
for He will see them beautified by the union He allows them to have with such glorious
works as thine. When thou wast living in the Eden of Camaldoli, thy amiable and
sweet charity for men was such, that all who came near thee were filled with joy
and consolation: what may we not expect from thee, now that thou art face to face
with the God of love? Remember, too, the Order thou hast founded; protect it,
give it increase, and make it ever, to those who become its children, a ladder
to lead them up to heaven.
Jesus said to him: Receive thy sight, thy faith hath made thee
whole.
MASS
Commentary by Abbot Dom
Guéranger
The station is at St. Peter’s. The
choice was suggested, as we learn from the Abbot Rupert’s ‘Treatise on the
Divine Offices,’ by the lesson of the Law given to Moses, which used then to be
read in this Sunday’s Office. Moses was looked upon,
by the early Christians of Rome, as a type of St. Peter. The Church
having, since that time, substituted the vocation of Abraham for the passage
from Exodus (which is now deferred till Lent), the station for this Sunday is still
in the basilica of the prince of the apostles, who was prefigured also by Abraham,
the father of believers.
The Introit is the
prayer of mankind, blind and wretched as the poor man of Jericho; it asks for
pity from its Redeemer, and beseeches Him to guide and feed it.
INTROIT - Psalm 30: 3-4
Esto mihi in Deum protectórem,
et in locum refúgii, ut salvum me fácias: quóniam firmaméntum meum et refúgium
meurn es tu: et propter nomen tuum dux mihi eris, et enútries me. Ps. 30: 2. In te, Dómine, sperávi, non confúndar in
ætérnum: in justítia tua libera me et éripe me. V. Glória
Patri.
Esto mihi in Deum
protectórem, et in locum refúgii, ut salvum me fácias…
Be Thou unto me a God, a
protector, and a place of refuge, to save me: for Thou art my strength and my refuge: and for Thy
name’s sake Thou wilt lead me, and nourish me. Ps. In
Thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: deliver me in Thy
justice, and save me. V. Glory be to the Father.
Be Thou unto me a
God, a protector, and a place of refuge, to save me…
COLLECT
We beseech Thee, O Lord,
mercifully hear our prayers, that being loosed from the bonds of our sins, we
may be defended by Thee against all
adversity. Through our Lord.
Commemoration for St. Romuald, Abbot and Confessor
May the intercession of the
blessed Abbot Romuald, we beseech Thee, O Lord, commend us unto Thee, that what
we cannot have through our own merits, we may obtain through his patronage.
Through our Lord.
Third Collect For the Intercession of the Saints
Defend us, we beseech Thee, O
Lord, from all dangers of mind and body: and through the intercession of the
blessed and glorious Mary, ever Virgin, mother of God, of Saint Joseph, of Thy
holy apostles, Saints Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, in Thy
loving-kindness grant us safety and peace; that, all adversities and errors
being overcome, Thy Church may serve Thee in security and freedom. Through our
Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of
the Holy Ghost.
EPISTLE -1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
Brethren: If I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy, and should know all
mysteries and all knowledge; and if I should have all faith so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should
distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be
burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity is patient, is
kind; Charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely, is not puffed up, is not
ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil,
rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never
falleth away; whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or
knowledge shall be destroyed. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But
when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a
child. But when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. We see now
through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part;
but then I shall know even as I am known. And now there remain faith, hope and
charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
How appropriate for
this Sunday is the magnificent eulogy of charity, here given by our apostle!
This virtue, which
comprises the love both of God and of our neighbour, is the light of our souls.
Without charity we
are in darkness, and all our works are profitless. The very power of working miracles
cannot give hope of salvation, unless he who does them have charity. Unless we
are in charity, the most heroic acts of other virtues are but one snare more
for our souls. Let us beseech our Lord to give us this light. But let us not forget
that, however richly He may bless us with it here below, the fullness of its
brightness is reserved for when we are in heaven; and that the sunniest day we
can have in this world, is but darkness when compared with the splendour of our
eternal charity. Faith will then give place, for we shall be face to face with
all truth ; hope will have no object, for we shall possess all good; charity
alone will continue, and, for this reason, is greater than faith and hope,
which must needs accompany her in this present life. This being the glorious
destiny reserved for man when redeemed and enlightened by Jesus, is it to be wondered
at that we should leave all things, in order to follow such a Master ‘What should
surprise us, and what proves how degraded is our nature by sin, is to see
Christians, who have been baptized in this faith and this hope, and have received
the first-fruits of this love, indulging, during these days, in every sort of
worldliness, which ‘is only the more dangerous because it is fashionable. It
would seem as though they were making it their occupation to extinguish within their
souls the last ray of heavenly light, like men that had made a covenant with
darkness. If there be charity within our souls, it will make us feel these offences
that are committed against our God, and inspire us to pray to Him to have mercy
on these poor blind sinners, for they are our brethren.
In the Gradual and
Tract, the Church sings the praises of God’s goodness towards His elect. He has
set them free from the slavish yoke of the world, by enlightening them with His
grace; they are His own children, the favoured sheep of His pasture.
GRADUAL - Psalm 76: 15-16
Thou art the God that alone
dost wonders: Thou hast made Thy power known among the nations. V. With Thy arm Thou hast delivered Thy people, the
children of Israel and of Joseph.
TRACT - Psalm 99: 1-2
Sing joyfully to God, all the
earth: serve ye the Lord with gladness. V. Come
in before His presence with exceeding great joy: know ye that the Lord He is
God. V. He made us, and not we ourselves: but we
are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
GOSPEL - Luke 18: 31-43
At that time Jesus took unto
Him the twelve and said to them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things
shall be accomplished which were written by the Prophets concerning the Son of
Man. For He shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and
scourged and spit upon: and after they have scourged Him, they will put Him to death, and the third day He shall
rise again. And they understood none of these things, and this word was hid
from them, and they understood not the things that were said. Now it came to
pass, when He drew nigh to Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the
wayside, begging. And when he heard the
multitude passing by, he asked what this meant. And they told him that Jesus of
Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying: Jesus, son of David, have
mercy on me. And they that went before rebuked him, that he should hold his
peace. But he cried out much more: Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus
standing, commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, He
asked him, saying: What wilt thou that I do to thee? But he said: Lord, that I
may see. And Jesus said to him: Receive thy sight, thy faith hath made thee
whole. And immediately he saw and followed Him glorifying God. And all the
people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
Jesus tells His
apostles, that His bitter Passion is at hand; it is a mark of His confidence in
them; but they understand not what He says. They are as yet too carnal-minded
to appreciate our Saviour’s mission; still, they do not abandon Him; they love Him
too much to think of separating from Him. Greater by far than this is the
blindness of those false Christians, who, during these three days, not only do
not think of the God who shed His Blood and died for them, but are striving to
efface from their souls every trace of the divine image! Let us adore that sweet
mercy, which has drawn us, as it did Abraham, from the midst 'of a sinful
people; and let us, like the blind man of our Gospel, cry out to our Lord,
beseeching Him to grant us an increase of His holy light. This was his prayer:
Lord! that I may see! God has given us His light; but He gave it us in order to
excite within us the desire of seeing more and more clearly. He promised Abraham,
that He would show him the place He had destined for him; may He grant us, also,
to see the land of the living! But our first prayer must be, that He show us Himself,
as St. Augustine has so beautifully expressed it, that we may love Him, and
show us ourselves that we may cease to love ourselves.
In the Offertory,
the Church prays that her children may have the light of life, which consists in
knowing the Law of God. She would have our lips pronounce His doctrine and the
divine commandments, which He has brought us from heaven.
OFFERTORY - Psalm 118: 12-13
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, teach
me Thy justifications: with my lips I have pronounced all the judgments of Thy
mouth.
SECRET
May these sacrifices, we
beseech Thee, O Lord, cleanse our offenses, and sanctify the bodies and minds
of Thy servants for the celebration of this sacrifice. Through our Lord.
Commemoration for St. Romuald
May the holy Romuald, we
beseech Thee, O Lord, obtain by his prayers that the Sacrifice laid on Thy holy
altar may profit us unto salvation. Through our Lord.
Third Secret prayer For the Intercession of the Saints
Graciously hear us, O God our
Saviour, and, by virtue of this Sacrament, defend us from all enemies of soul
and body, bestowing upon us Thy grace here and Thy glory hereafter. Through our
Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of
the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever.
PREFACE OF THE HOLY TRINITY
It is truly meet and just,
right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all places,
give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God: Who,
together with Thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, are one God, one
Lord: not in the oneness of a single Person, but in the Trinity of one substance.
For what we believe by Thy revelation of Thy glory, the same do we believe of
Thy Son, the same of the Holy Ghost, without difference or separation. So that
in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead, distinction in persons, unity
in essence, and equality in majesty may be adored. Which the Angels and
Archangels, the Cherubim also and Seraphim do praise: who cease not daily to
cry out with one voice saying:
The Communion
antiphon commemorates the miracle of the manna, which fed in the desert the descendants
of Abraham; and yet this food, though it came from heaven, did not preserve
them from death. The living Bread, which we have had given to us from heaven, gives
eternal life to the soul: and he who eats it worthily shall never die.
COMMUNION - Psalm 77: 29-30
They did eat, and were filled
exceedingly, and the Lord gave them their desire: they were not defrauded of
that which they craved.
POSTCOMMUNION
We beseech Thee, almighty God,
that we who have received this heavenly nourishment, may be strengthened by it
against all adversities. Through our Lord.
Commemoration for St. Romuald
May the pleading of blessed
Romuald for us, as well as the reception of Thy Sacrament, protect us, O Lord,
that we may both share in the glory of his works, and receive the help of his
intercession. Through our Lord.
Third Postcommunion prayer For the Intercession of the Saints
May the oblation of this divine
sacrament which we have offered, cleanse us and defend us, we beseech Thee, O
Lord; and through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God,
of St. Joseph, of Thy holy apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, free
us from all iniquity and deliver us from all adversity. Through the Lord Jesus
Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy
Ghost, one God Forever and ever.
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