MONDAY OF QUINQUAGESIMA WEEK
Matins
Lessons 1, 2, 3
Lesson 1
Genesis 13: 1-6
And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had,
and Lot with him into the south. And he was very rich in possession of gold and
silver. And he returned by the way, that he came, from the south to Bethel, to
the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai, In the
place of the altar which he had made before, and there he called upon the name
of the Lord. But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds
of beasts, and tents. Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might
dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell
together.
V. But thou, O
Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to
God.
R. Abram removed
his tent, and came, and dwelt by the vale of Mamre; * and built there an altar
unto the Lord.
V. And the Lord said unto him: Lift up thine eyes, and look; all the land which
thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
R. And built there
an altar unto the Lord.
Lesson 2
Genesis 13: 7-11
Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and
of Lot. And at that time the Chanaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in that
country. Abram therefore said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel, I beseech thee,
between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen: for we are
brethren. Behold the whole land is before thee: depart from me, I pray thee: if
thou wilt go to the left hand, I will take the right: if thou choose the right
hand, I will pass to the left. And Lot lifting up his eyes, saw all the country
about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom
and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to
Segor. And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed
from the east.
V. But thou, O
Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to
God.
R. Abraham believed
God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. * And therefore he became
the friend of God.
V. For he was
righteous in the sight of the Lord, and walked in His ways.
R. And therefore he
became the friend of God.
Lesson 3
Genesis 13: 11-16
And they were separated one brother from the other. Abram dwelt in the
land of Chanaan: and Lot abode in the towns, that were about the Jordan, and
dwelt in Sodom. And the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face
of the Lord beyond measure. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated
from him: Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to
the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. All the land which
thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy
seed as the dust of the earth: if any man be able to number the dust of the
earth, he shall be able to number thy seed also.
V. But thou, O
Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to
God.
R. The Lord did tempt Abraham, and said unto him: * Take thy son Isaac whom
thou lovest, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains
which I will tell thee of.
V. And when the
Lord called him, he answered: Behold, here I am. And the Lord said unto him:
R. Take thy son
Isaac whom thou lovest, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of
the mountains which I will tell thee of.
V. Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R. Take thy son
Isaac whom thou lovest, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of
the mountains which I will tell thee of.
The Liturgical Year
Abbot Dom Guéranger
The
life of a faithful Christian, like that of the patriarch Abraham, is neither
more nor less than a courageous journeying onwards to the place destined for
him by his Creator. He must put aside everything that could impede his
progress, nor must he look back. This is, undoubtedly, hard doctrine; but if we
reflect, for a moment, on the dangers which surround fallen man during his earthly pilgrimage, and on what our own sad
experience has taught us, we shall not think it hard or strange, that our
Saviour has made the renouncing and denying of ourselves an essential
condition of our salvation. But, independently of this, is it not far better to
put our life under God’s guidance, than to keep it in our own? Are we so wise
or so strong, as to be able to guide ourselves? We may resist as we please, but
God is our sovereign Lord and Master; and by giving us free-will, whereby we
may either resist His will or follow it, He has not abdicated His own infinite
rights to His creatures’ obedience. Our refusal to obey would not make Him less
our Master.
Had Abraham, after receiving the divine call, chosen to remain in Chaldea, and
refused to break up the home which God had bade him leave, God would then have
selected some other man to be the patriarch of His chosen people, and father of
that very family, which was to have the Messias as one of its children. This
substitution of one for another in the order of grace is frequently forced upon
divine justice; but what a terrible punishment it is for him that caused the
substitution! When a soul refuses salvation, heaven does not therefore lose one
of its elect: God, finding that He is despised by the one He called, offers the
grace to another, until His call is followed.
The Christian life consists in this untiring,
unreserved obedience to God. The first effect of this spirit of submission is,
that it takes the soul from the region of sin and death, wherein she was
wasting away her existence; it takes her from the dark Chaldea, and places her
in the promised land of light. Lest she should faint on her way along the
narrow path, and fall a victim to the dangers which never leave her because
they are within herself, God asks her for sacrifices, and these brace her.
Here, again, we have Abraham for our model. God loves
him, and promises him the richest of blessings; He gives him a son, as pledge
of the promise; and then, shortly after, tests the holy patriarch’s devotedness,
by commanding him to slay with his own hand this dear child, on
whom he has been told to build his hopes!
Man’s path on earth is sacrifice. We cannot go
out from evil except by the way of self-resistance, nor keep our footing on
good ground but by constant combating. Let us imitate Abraham: fix our eyes
steadfastly on the eternal hills, and consider this world as a mere passing
dwelling, a tent, put up for a few days. Our Jesus has said to us: ‘I came not
to send peace, but the sword; for I came to separate.’ Separation, then, and
trials are sure to be sent us; but we are equally sure that they are for our
good, since they are sent us by Him who so loved us, that He became one of
ourselves. But this same Jesus has also said: ‘Where thy treasure is, there too
is thy heart.’ Christians! can our treasure be in this wretched world? No it
must be in that fair land above. There, then, must we be, in desire and
affection.
These are the thoughts the Church would have us meditate upon during these
days, which immediately precede the forty of Lent. They will help to purify our
hearts and make them long to be with their God. The noise of the world’s sins
and scandals reaches our ears: let us pray, that the kingdom of God may come to
us and to those poor sinners; for God’s infinite mercy can change them, if He will,
into children of Abraham. Not a day passes but He so changes many a sinner. He
has, perhaps, shown that miracle of His mercy to us, and those words of the
apostle may be applied to us: ‘You, who some time were afar off, are now made
nigh (to God) by the Blood of Christ.’
Let us pray for ourselves and
for all sinners, in these beautiful words of the Mozarabic breviary.
Prayer
We
beseech thee, O almighty God! that whereas our sins have angered thee against
us, our prayers and praise, which thou inspirest, may propitiate and please
thee: that thus, by thy mercy, the vexations of this world may not cast down
our soul, nor hurtful delusion possess her, nor the darkness of unbelief
surround her; but may we gleam with the light of thy countenance, wherewith
thou hast signed us, and ever, by firmness in the true faith, walk in the
brightness of the same. Amen.
