WEDNESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT
FERIA DAY IN LENT
STATION AT ST. CECILIA’S
(Indulgence of 10 years and 10
quarantines)
Violet vestments
Commentary from the Liturgical Year by Dom Guéranger
The Station is in the basilica of Saint Cecily. This church, one of the most
venerable in Rome, was the house of the illustrious virgin and martyr whose
name it bears. The body of Saint Cecily is under the high altar, together with
those of Saints Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus, and of the holy Popes Urban
and Lucius, all martyrs.
Statue of Saint Cecilia represents the
Saint’s body as she was discovered in her tomb under the altar, when it was
opened in 1599.
INTROIT - Psalm 37:22-23, 2
Ne derelínquas me, Dómine, Deus meus,
ne discédas a me: inténde in adjutórium meum, Dómine, virtus salútis meæ. Ps
37:2. Dómine, ne in furóre tuo árguas me: neque in ira tua corrípias me. Glória
Patri.
Forsake me not, O Lord; my God, be
not far from me! Hasten to help me, O Lord, my salvation! Ps. O Lord, in Your
anger punish me not, in Your wrath chastise me not. Glory be to the Father.
COLLECT
Look mercifully upon Your people, we
beseech You, O Lord, and grant that they whom You command to abstain from food,
may also refrain from harmful vices. Through our Lord.
EPISTLE - Esther 13:8-11,15-17
In those days, Mardochai prayed to
the Lord, saying: O Lord, Lord, almighty King, for all things are in Your
power, and there is none that can resist Your will, if You determine to save Israel.
You have made heaven and earth, and all things that are under the cope of
heaven. You are Lord of all, and there is none that can resist Your Majesty.
And now, O Lord, O King, O God of Abraham, have mercy on Your people, because
our enemies resolve to destroy us, and extinguish Your inheritance. Despise not
Your portion, which You have redeemed for Yourself out of Egypt. Hear my
supplication, and be merciful to Your lot and inheritance, and turn our
mourning into joy, that we may live and praise Your Name, O Lord, and shut not
the mouths of those who sing to You, O Lord our God.
This petition, which Mardochai presented to God in favour of a whole
nation that was doomed to destruction, represents the prayers which the saints
of the old Testament offered for the salvation of the world. The human race
was, to a great extent, in the power of satan, who is figured by Aman. The almighty
King had given sentence against mankind: ‘Ye shall die the death.’ Who was there
that could induce Him to revoke the sentence? Esther made intercession with Assuerus,
her lord; and she was heard. Mary presented herself before the throne of the
eternal God: and it is she that, by her divine Son, crushes the head of the
serpent, who was to have tormented us for ever. The sentence, then, is to be
annulled; all shall live that wish to live. Today we have the Church praying
for her children who are in the state of sin. She trembles at seeing them in
danger of being eternally lost. She intercedes for them, and she uses
Mardochai’s prayer. She humbly reminds her divine Spouse, that He has redeemed
them out of Egypt; and, by Baptism, has made them His members, His inheritance.
She beseeches Him to change their mourning into joy, even into the great Easter
joy. She says to Him: Oh! shut not the mouths of them that sing to Thee! It is
true, these poor sinners have in past times offended their God by word, as well
as by deed and thought; but now they speak but words of humble prayer for
mercy; and, when they shall have been pardoned, how fervently will they sing to
their divine Deliverer, and bless Him in canticles of grateful love!
GRADUAL - Psalm 27:9, 1
Save Thy people, O Lord, and bless
Thine inheritance. Unto Thee have I cried, O Lord my God; be not Thou silent to
me, lest I become like to them that go down into the pit.
TRACT - Psalm 102: 10; 78: 8, 9
O Lord, deal with us not according to
our sins, nor requite us according to our crimes. Ps. O Lord, remember not against us the
iniquities of the past; may Your compassion quickly come to us, for we are
brought very low. [Kneel.] V. Help us, O God, our Saviour, because of the glory
of Your Name, O Lord; deliver us and pardon our sins for Your Name’s sake.
GOSPEL - Matthew 20:17-28
At that time, as Jesus was going up
to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to
them: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed
to the chief priests and the Scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and
will deliver Him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and
on the third day He will rise again. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee
came to Him with her sons; and worshipping, she made a request of Him. He said
to her: What do you want? She said to Him: Command that these my two sons may
sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left hand, in Your kingdom. But
Jesus answered and said: You do not know what you are asking for. Can you drink
of the cup of which I am about to drink? They said to Him: We can. He said to
them: Of My cup you shall indeed drink; but as for sitting at My right hand and
at My left, that is not Mine to give you, but it belongs to those for whom it
has been prepared by My Father. And when the ten heard this, they were
indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Him, and said: You know
that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise
authority over them. Not so is it among you. On the contrary, whoever wishes to
become great among shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among
you shall be your slave; even as the Son the Man has not come to be served but
to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
This is He that gave His own life in order to appease the anger of the
almighty King, and redeem His people from death. It is Jesus, the Son of the new Esther, and the
Son of God, who comes forward to humble the pride of Aman, at the very time
when this perfidious enemy of ours is making sure of his victory. He goes up to
Jerusalem, for it is there that the great battle is to be fought. He foretells to
His disciples all that is to happen. He will be delivered up to the chief
priests, who will condemn Him to death, and hand Him over to the Roman governor
and soldiers. He will be mocked, scourged, and crucified; but He will rise again
on the third day. The apostles heard this prophecy, for the Gospel says, that
Jesus took the twelve apart, in order to tell them these things. Judas,
consequently, was present; so were Peter, James, and John, the three that had
witnessed the Transfiguration of their Master on Thabor, and had a clearer
knowledge of His Divinity. And yet, all abandoned Him. Judas betrayed Him, Peter
denied Him, and the whole flock fled away in fear, when the Shepherd was in the
power of His enemies. Not one of them recollected how He had said that on the
third day He would rise again: unless it were Judas, who was perhaps encouraged
to commit his crime by the reflection that Jesus would soon triumph over His
enemies and be again free. The rest could see no further than the scandal of
the cross; that put an end to all their faith, and they deserted their Master.
What a lesson for all future generations of Christians! How very few there are
who look upon the cross, either for themselves or for others, as a sign of
God’s special love!
We are men of little faith;
we cannot understand the trials God sends to our brethren, and we are often
tempted to believe that He has forsaken them, because He sends them the cross.
We are men of little love, too; worldly tribulation seems an evil to us, and we
think ourselves hardly dealt with, at the very time when our God is showing us
the greatest mercy. We are like the mother of the sons of Zebedee: we would
hold a high and conspicuous place near the Son of God, forgetting that we must
first merit it, by drinking of the chalice that He drank, that is, the chalice
of suffering. We forget, too, that saying of the apostle: ‘That we may be
glorified with Jesus, we must suffer with Him!’ He, the just by excellence, entered
not into His rest by honours, and pleasures: the sinner cannot follow Him, save by treading the path of penance.
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