14 MARCH – FERIA OF LENT

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the birthday of forty-seven holy martyrs who were baptised by the blessed Apostle St. Peter while he was kept in the Mamertine Prison with his fellow blessed Apostle St. Paul. After a detention of nine months they all fell by the sword of Nero, after most generously confessing the faith.

Also at Rome, St. Leo, bishop and martyr.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Peter and Aphrodisius, who obtained the crown of martyrdom in the persecution of the Vandals.

At Carrhae in Mesopotamia, the patrician St. Eutychius and his companions, who were killed by Evelid, king of Arabia, for the confession of the faith.

In the province of Valeria, two saintly monks, who were hanged on a tree by the Lombards, and though dead, were heard singing psalms even by their enemies. In the same persecution, a deacon of the church of Marsico was beheaded for the confession of the faith.

At Halberstadt in Germany, the demise of the blessed queen Matilda, mother of the emperor Otho I, celebrated for her humility and patience.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

14 MARCH – SATURDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Lesson – Daniel xiii. 1‒62

In those days there was a man that dwelt in Babylon, and his name was Joachim, and he took a wife whose name was Susanna, the daughter of Helcias, a very beautiful woman, and one that feared God. For her parents being just, had instructed their daughter according to the law of Moses. Now Joakim was very rich, and had an orchard near his house. And the Jews resorted to him because he was the most honourable of them all. And there were two of the ancients of the people appointed judges that year, of whom the Lord said: “Iniquity came out from Babylon from the ancient judges, that seemed to govern the people.” These men frequented the house of Joachim, and all that had any matters of judgement came to them, and when the people departed away at noon, Susanna went in, and walked in her husband’s orchard. And the old men saw her going in every day, and walking, and they were inflamed with lust towards her, and they perverted their own mind, and turned away their eyes, that they might not look to heaven, nor remember just judgements.

And it fell out, as they watched a fit day, she went in on a time, as yesterday and the day before, with two maids only, and was desirous to wash herself in the orchard for it was hot weather. And there was nobody there but the two old men that had hid themselves and were considering her. So she said to the maids: “Bring me oil and washing balls, and shut the doors of the orchard, that I may wash me.” And they did as she bade them, and they shut the doors of the orchard and went out by a back door to fetch what she had commanded them, and they knew not that the elders were hid within. Now when the maids were gone forth, the two elders arose, and ran to her, and said: “Behold the doors of the orchard are shut, and nobody sees us, and we are in love with you. Wherefore consent to us, and lie with us. But if you will not, we will bear witness against you, that a young man was with you, and therefore you sent away thy maids from you.” Susanna sighed, and said: “I am straitened on every side, for if I do this thing it is death to me, and if I do it not, I will not escape your hands. But it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord.” With that Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and the elders also cried out against her. And one of them ran to the door of the orchard and opened it. So when the servants of the house heard the cry in the orchard, they rushed in by the back door to see what was the matter. But after the old men had spoken, the servants were greatly ashamed, for never had there been any such word said of Susanna.

And on the next day, when the people were come to Joakim her husband, the two elders also came, full of their wicked device against Susanna, to put her to death. And they said before the people: “Send to Susanna, daughter of Helcias, the wife of Joakim.” And they presently sent, and she came with her parents and children and all her kindred. Therefore her friends and all her aquaintances wept. But the two elders, rising up in the midst of the people, laid their hands on her head. And she weeping looked up to heaven, for her heart had confidence in the Lord. And the elders said: “As we walked in the orchard alone, this woman came in with two maids, and shut the doors of the orchard, and sent away the maids from her. Then a young man that was there hid, came to her and lay with her. But we that were in the corner of the orchard, seeing this wickedness, ran up to them, and we saw them lie together. And as for him we could not take him, because he was stronger than we, and opening the doors he leaped out. But having taken this woman, we asked who the young man was, but she would not tell us. Of this thing we are witnesses.” The multitude believed them, as being the elders and judges of the people, and they condemned her to death. Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and said: “Eternal God, who knows hidden things, who knows all things before they come to pass, you know that they have borne false witness against me, and behold I must die, whereas I have done none of these things, which these men have maliciously forged against me.” And the Lord heard her voice. And when she was led to be put to death, the Lord raised up the holy spirit of a young boy, whose name was Daniel, and he cried out with a loud voice: “I am clear from the blood of this woman.” Then all the people turning towards him, said: “What means this word that you have spoken?” But he standing in the midst of them, said: “Are you so foolish, you children of Israel, that without examination or knowledge of the truth, you have condemned a daughter of Israel? Return to judgement, for they have borne false witness against her.” So all the people turned again in haste.

And Daniel said to the people: “Separate these two far from one another, and I will examine them.” So when they were put asunder one from the other, he called one of them and said to him: “O you that are grown old in evil days, now are your sins come out which you have committed before, in judging unjust judgements, oppressing the innocent and letting the guilty go free, whereas the Lord says: ‘The innocent and the just you must not kill.’ Now then, if you saw her, tell me under what tree you saw them conversing together.” He said: “Under a mastick tree.” And Daniel said: “Well have you lied against your own head, for behold the Angel of God, having received the sentence of him, will cut you in two.” And having put him aside, he commanded that the other should come, and he said to him: “You seed of Canaan, and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you, and lust has perverted your heart. Thus did you do as to the daughters of Israel, and they for fear conversed with you, but a daughter of Judah would not abide your wickedness. Now, therefore, tell me under what tree did you take them conversing together?” And he answered:” Under a holm tree.” And Daniel said to him: “Well have you also lied against your own head, for the Angel of the Lord waits with a sword to cut thee in two, and to destroy you.” With that all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and they blessed God, who saves them that trust in Him. And they rose up against the two elders, (for Daniel had convicted them of false witness by their own mouth), and they did to them as they had maliciously dealt against their neighbour, and they put them to death, and innocent blood was saved in that day.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

If you would understand the mystery, read and meditate on the Sacred Scriptures, for there you will learn that there is a salvation which comes from justice, and a salvation that proceeds from mercy. Today we have an example of both. Susanna, who is unjustly accused of adultery, receives from God the recompense of her virtue. He avenges and saves her. Another woman, who is really guilty of the crime, is saved from death by Jesus Christ himself. Let the just, therefore, confidently and humbly await the reward they have merited, but let sinners also hope in the mercy of the Redeemer, who is come for them rather than for the just.

In this history of Susanna, the early Christians saw a figure of the Church, which, in their time, was solicited by the pagans to evil, but remained faithful to her Divine Spouse, even though death was the punishment of her resistance. A holy Martyr of the third century, Saint Hippolytus, mentions this interpretation. The carvings on the ancient Christian tombs, and the frescoes of the Roman Catacombs, represent this history of Susanna's fidelity to God’s law, in spite of the death that threatened her, as a type of martyrs preferring death to apostacy, for apostacy, in the language of the Sacred Scriptures, is called adultery, which the soul is guilty of by denying her God, to whom she espoused herself when she received Baptism.

Gospel – John viii. 1‒11

At that time Jesus went to Mount Olivet. And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him, and sitting down He taught them. And the Scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in adultery, and they set her in the midst, and said to Him: “Master, this woman was now taken in adultery. Now. Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one: but what say you?” And this they said tempting Him, that they might accuse Him. But Jesus, bowing Himself down, wrote with his finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself and said to them:” He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And again stooping down, He wrote on the ground. But they hearing this, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, and Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus lifting up Himself, said to her: “Woman, where are they that accused you? Has no man condemned you?” Who said: “No man, Lord.” And Jesus said: “Neither will I condemn you. Go, and now sin no more.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This is the Salvation that proceeds from mercy. The woman is guilty. The Law condemns her to he put to death. Her accusers are justified in insisting on her being punished, and yet, she will not die. Jesus saves her, and all He asks of her is, that she sin no more. What must have been her gratitude! How must she not have desired to obey, henceforward, that God, who would not condemn her, and to whom she owed her life! Let us enter into the like dispositions towards our Redeemer, for we, too, are sinners. Is it not He that has stayed the arm of Divine Justice, when it was raised to strike us? Has He not turned the blow on Himself? Our salvation, then, has been one of mercy. Let us imitate the penitents of the primitive Church, and, during these remaining days of Lent, consolidate the foundations of the new life we have begun. The answer made by Jesus to the Pharisees who accused this woman deserves our respectful attention. It not only shows His compassion for the humble sinner, who stood trembling before Him: it contains a practical instruction for us. He that is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone at her.

During these days of conversion and repentance, let us recall to mind the detractions we have been guilty of against our neighbour. Alas, these sins of the tongue are looked on as mere trifles. We forget them almost as soon as we commit them, so deeply rooted in us is the habit of finding fault with everyone, that we scarcely know ourselves to be detractors. If this saying of our Redeemer had made the impression it ought to have done on us. If we had thought of our own numberless defects and sins, how could we have dared to criticise our neighbour, publish his faults, and pass judgement on his very thoughts and intentions? Jesus knew what sort of life these men had led, who accuse the woman. He knows what ours has been! Woe to us, if, henceforth, we are not indulgent with others! And lastly, let us consider the malice of Jesus’ enemies: what they said, they said, tempting Him, that they might accuse Him. If He pronounces in the woman’s favour, they will accuse him of despising the Law of Moses, which condemns her to be stoned. If He answer in conformity with the Law, they will hold Him up to the people as a man without mercy or compassion. Jesus, by His divine prudence, eludes their stratagem, but we can foresee what He will have to suffer at their hands, when, having put Himself in their power, that they may do with Him what they please, He will make no other answer to their calumnies and insults than the silence and patience of an innocent victim condemned to death.

13 MARCH – FERIA OF LENT

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Nicomedia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Macedonius, his wife Patritia, and their daughter Modesta.

At Nicaea, the holy martyrs Theuseta, and Horres, his son, Theodora, Nimphodora, Marcus and Arabia, who were burned to death for Christ.

At Hermopolis in Egypt, the martyr St. Sabinus, who after many sufferings, terminated his martyrdom by being precipitated into a river.

In Persia, St. Christina, virgin and martyr.

At Cordova, the holy martyrs Rudericus, priest, and Solomon.

At Constantinople, the bishop St. Nicephorus. In defence of the traditions of his forefathers and of the worship of sacred images, he opposed firmly the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian, by whom he was sent into exile, where he underwent a long martyrdom of fourteen years, and departed for the kingdom of God.

At Camerino in Umbria, St. Ansovinus, bishop and confessor.

In Thebais, St. Euphrasia, virgin.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

13 MARCH – FRIDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

 

Lesson – Numbers xx. 2‒13

In those days the children of Israel came together against Moses and Aaron, and making a sedition they said: “Give us water to drink.” And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant and fell flat on the ground, and cried to the Lord and said: “O Lord God, bear the cry of this people and open to them your treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur.” And the glory of the Lord appeared over them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Take the rod and assemble the people together, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it will yield waters. And when you have brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle will drink.” Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as He had commanded him, and having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: “Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous. Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?” And when Moses had lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: “Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you must not bring these people into the land which I will give them.” This is the water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Here we have one of the most expressive figures of the old Testament: it symbolises the Sacrament of Baptism, for which our Catechumens are now preparing. A whole people asks for water: if it be denied them, they must perish in the wilderness. Saint Paul, the sublime interpreter of the types of the Old Testament, tells us that the rock was Christ (2 Corinthians x. 4), from whom came forth the fountain of living water which quenches the thirst of our souls and purifies them. The Holy Fathers observe that the rock yielded not its waters until it had been struck with the rod which signifies the Passion of our Redeemer. The rod itself, as we are told by some of the earliest commentators of the Scriptures, is the symbol of the Cross, and the two strokes, with which the rock was struck, represent the two parts of which the Cross was formed. The paintings which the primitive Church has left us in the Catacombs of Rome frequently represent Moses in the act of striking the rock, from which flows a stream of water, and a glass found in the same Catacombs bears an inscription telling us that the first Christians considered Moses as the type of Saint Peter, who in the New Covenant opened to God’s people the fountain of grace when he preached to them on the day of Pentecost, and gave also to the Gentiles to drink of this same water when he received Cornelius the centurion into the Church. 

This symbol of Moses striking the rock, and the figures of the Old Testament, which we have already come across, or will still meet with, in the Lessons given by the Church to the Catechumens — are not only found in the earliest frescoes of the Roman Catacombs, but we have numerous proofs that they were represented in all the Churches both of the East and West. Up to the thirteenth century and even later, we find them in the windows of our Cathedrals, and in the traditional form or type which was given to them in the early times. It is to be regretted, that these Christian symbols, which were so dear to our Catholic forefathers should now be so forgotten, as to be almost treated with contempt. Let us love them, and, by the study of the holy liturgy, let us return to those sacred traditions which inspired our ancestors with heroic faith, and made them undertake such grand things for God and their fellow-men.

Gospel – John iv. 5‒42

At that time Jesus came to a city of Samaria which is called Sichar, near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her: “Give me to drink,” for His disciples were gone into the city to buy meats. Then that Samaritan woman said to Him: “How do you, being a Jew, ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman?” For the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans. Jesus answered, and said to her: “If you knew the gift of God, and who he is that said to you, ‘Give me to drink,’ you perhaps would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him: “ Sir, you have nothing in which to draw, and the well is deep. From where then have you living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his children, and his cattle?” Jesus answered, and said to her: “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but he that will drink of the water that I will give him, will not thirst forever. But the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting.” The woman said to Him: “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” Jesus said to her: “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered, and said: “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her: “You have said well, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.” The woman said to Him: “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore.” Jesus said to her: “Woman, believe me, the hour comes when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father. You adore that which you know not. We adore that which we know, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true adorers will adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeks such to adore Him. God is a spirit, and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth.” The woman said to Him: “I know that the Messiah comes, who is called Christ. Therefore when He has come, He will tell us all things.” 

Jesus said to her: “I am he, who am speaking with you.” And immediately His disciples came, and they wondered that He talked with the woman. Yet no man said: “What do you seek, or why do you talk with her?” The woman therefore left her water-pot and went her way into the city, and said to the men there: “Come and see a man who has told me all things whatever I have done. Is not he the Christ?” They went therefore out of the city and came to Him. In the meantime the disciples prayed Him, saying: “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them: “I have meat to eat which you know not of.” The disciples therefore said one to another: “Has any man brought Him to eat?” Jesus said to them: “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, that I may perfect His work. Do not you say, there are yet four months, and then the harvest comes? Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the countries, for they are white already to harvest. And he that reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to life everlasting that both he that sows, and he that reaps may rejoice together. For in this is that saying true: that it is one man that sows, and it is another that reaps. I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labour: others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours.” Now of that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him, for the word of the woman giving testimony: “He told me all things whatever I have done.” So when the Samaritans were come to Him, they desired that He would tarry there. And He abode there two days. And many more believed in Him because of His own word. And they said to the woman: “We now believe, not for your saying: for we ourselves have heard Him and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Our Gospel shows us the Son of God continuing the ministry of Moses by revealing to the Samaritan woman, who represents the Gentiles, the mystery of the Water that gives life everlasting. We find this subject painted on the walls of the Catacombs, and carved on the tombs of the Christians, as far back as the fifth, and even the fourth century. Let us then meditate on this event of our Lord’s life, for it tells us of His wonderful mercy. Jesus is wearied with His journey. He, the Son of God, who had but to speak and the world was created, is fatigued, seeking after his lost sheep. He is obliged to rest his wearied limbs. He sits but it near a well. He finds a Samaritan woman there. She is a Gentile, an idolatress. She comes to draw water from the well. She has no idea of there being a water of eternal life. Jesus intends to reveal the mystery to her. He begins by telling her that He is tired and thirsty. A few days hence, when expiring on His Cross, He will say “I thirst” and so now He says to this woman: Give me to drink. So true is it, that in order to appreciate the grace brought us by our Redeemer, we must first know this Redeemer in His weakness and sufferings.

But before the woman had time to give Jesus what He asks, he tells her of a water, of which he that drinks will not thirst forever. He invites her to draw from a fountain that springs up into life everlasting. The woman longs to drink of this water. She knows not who He is that is speaking with her, and yet she has faith in what He says. This idolatress evinces a docility of heart which the Jews never showed to their Messiah, and she is docile, notwithstanding her knowing that He who speaks to her belongs to a nation which despises all Samaritans. The confidence with which she listens to Jesus is rewarded by His offering still greater graces. He begins by putting her to the test. “Go,” He says, “call your husband, and come here.” She was living in sin, and Jesus would have her confess it. She does so without the slightest hesitation. Her humility is rewarded, for she at once recognises Jesus to be a Prophet, and she begins to drink of the living water. Thus was it with the Gentiles. The Apostles preached the Gospel to them. They reproached them with their crimes and showed them the holiness of the God they had offended, but the Gentiles did not therefore reject their teaching. On the contrary, they were docile, and only wanted to know what they should do to render themselves pleasing to their Creator. The faith had need of martyrs, and they were found in abundance amidst these converts from paganism and its abominations.

Jesus, seeing such simple-heartedness in the Samaritan, mercifully reveals to her who He is. He tells this poor sinner, that the time is come when all men will adore God. He tells her that the Messiah has come upon the earth and that He Himself is that Messiah. It is thus that Christ treats a soul that is simple and obedient. He shows Himself to her without reserve. When the disciples arrived, they wondered. They had as yet too much of the Jew in them. They, therefore, could not understand how their Master could show anything like mercy to this Samaritan. But the time will soon come, when they will say with the great Apostle Saint Paul: “There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. For all are one in Christ Jesus (1 Galatians iii. 28).

Meanwhile, the Samaritan becomes an apostle, for she is filled with heavenly ardour. She leaves her pitcher at the well: what cares she for its water, now that Jesus has given her to drink of the living water? She goes back to the city, but it is that she may preach Jesus there, and bring to Him, if she could, all the inhabitants of Samaria. In her humility, she gives this proof of His being a great Prophet — that He had told her all the sins of her life! These pagans whom the Jews despised hasten to the well where Jesus had remained speaking to His disciples on the coming harvest. They acknowledge him to be the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, and Jesus condescends to abide two days in this city where there was no other religion than that of idolatry, with a fragment here and there of some Jewish practice. Tradition tells us that the name of the Samaritan woman was Photina. She and the Magi were the first fruits of the new people of God. She suffered martyrdom for Him who revealed Himself to her at Jacob’s well. The Church honours her memory each year, in the Roman Martyrology, on the 20th of March.

12 MARCH – THURSDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

 

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This day brings us to the middle of Lent, and is called Mid-Lent Thursday. It is the twentieth of the forty fasts imposed on us at this holy Season by the Church. The Greeks call this Thursday Mesonestios, that is, the mid-Fast. They give this name to the entire week, which in their Liturgy is the fourth of the seven which form their Lent. But the Thursday of this week is, with them, a solemn feast, and a day of rejoicing by which they animate themselves to courage during the rest of the Season. The Catholic nations of the West, though they do not look on this day as a feast, yet have they always kept it with some degree of festivity and joy. The Church of Rome has countenanced the custom by her own observance of it, but in order not to give a pretext to dissipation, which might interfere with the spirit of fasting, she postpones to the following Sunday the formal expression of this innocent joy, as we will see further on. 

Yet it is not against the spirit of the Church that this Mid-Day of Lent should be marked by some demonstration of gladness, for example, by sending invitations to friends, as our Catholic forefathers used to do, and serving up to table choicer and more abundant food than on other days of Lent, taking care, however, that the laws of the Church are strictly observed. But, alas! how many there are, even of them that call themselves Catholic who have been breaking for the past twenty days these laws of abstinence and fasting! Whether the dispensations they trust to, be lawfully or unlawfully obtained, the joy of Mid-Lent Thursday seems scarcely made for them. To experience this joy one must have earned and merited it by penance, by privations, by bodily mortifications, which is just what so many nowadays, cannot think of doing. Let us pray for them that God would enlighten them and enable them to see what they are bound to do consistently with the faith they profess.

Lesson – Jeremiah vii. 1‒7

In those days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim there this word and say: ‘Hear ye the word of the Lord, all ye men of Judah that enter in at these gates to adore the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Make your ways and your doings good, and I will dwell with you in this place. Trust not in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, it is the temple of the Lord. For if you will order well your ways and your doings; if you will execute judgement between a man and his neighbour; if you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and walk not after strange gods to your own hurt; I will dwell with you in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers from the beginning and forever more,’” say the Lord Almighty.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

There is not a single duty in which the Church does not instruct her children. If, on the one hand, she insists on their fulfilling certain exterior practices of penance, she, on the other, warns them against the false principle of supposing, that exterior observances, however carefully complied with, can supply the want of interior virtues. God refuses to accept the homage of the spirit and the heart if man, through pride or sensuality, refuses that other service which is equally due to his Creator, namely, his bodily service. But to make one’s religion consist of nothing but material works is little better than mockery, for God bids us serve Him in spirit and in truth (John iv. 24). The Jews prided themselves on having the Temple of Jerusalem which was the dwelling-place of God’s glory, but this privilege which exalted them above other nations was not infrequently turned against themselves, inasmuch as many of them were satisfied with a mere empty respect for the holy Place. They never thought of that higher and better duty, of showing themselves grateful to their divine benefactor by observing His Law. 

Those Christians would be guilty of a like hypocrisy, who, though most scrupulously exact in the exterior duty of fasting and abstinence, were to take no pains to amend their lives, and follow the rules of justice, charity and humility. They would deserve that our Lord should say of them what He said of Israel: This people glorify me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Isaias xxix. 13). This Christian pharisaism is very rare nowadays. What we have to fear is a disregard for the exterior practices of religion. Those of the faithful who are diligent in the fulfilment of the laws of the Church, are not, generally speaking, behindhand in the practice of other virtues. Still, this false conscience is sometimes to be met with, and is a scandal which does much spiritual injury. Let us, therefore, observe the whole Law. Let us offer to God a spiritual service which consists in the heart’s obedience to all His commandments, and to this let us join the homage of our bodies by practising those things which the Church has prescribed. The body is intended to be an aid to the soul, and is destined to share in her eternal happiness. It is but just that it should share in the service of God.

Gospel – Luke iv. 38‒44

At that time, Jesus rising up out of the synagogue went into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever and they besought Him for her. And standing over her, He commanded the fever and it left her. And immediately rising, she ministered to them. And when the sun was down, all they that had any sick with various diseases brought them to Him. But He laying His hands on every one of them, healed them. And devils went out from many, crying out and saying: “You are the Son of God.” And He, rebuking them, suffered them not to speak, for they knew that He was Christ. And when it was day, going out He went into a desert place and the multitudes sought Him and came to Him: and they stayed Him that He should not depart from them. To whom He said: “To other cities also I must preach the kingdom of God: for therefore am I sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Let us here ad mire the goodness of our Redeemer who deigns to exercise His power for the cure of bodily infirmities. How much more ready will He not be to heal our spiritual ailments! Our fever is that of evil passions. Jesus alone can allay it. Let us imitate the eagerness of these people of Galilee who brought all their sick to Jesus. Let us beseech Him to heal us. See with what patience He welcomes each poor sufferer! Let us also go to Him. Let us implore of him not to depart from us, but abide with us forever. He will accept our petition and remain. Let us pray for sinners: the days of the great Fast are quickly passing away: we have reached the second half of Lent, and the Passover of our deliverance will soon be here. Look at the thousands that are unmoved, with their souls still blind to the light, and their hearts hardened against every appeal of God’s mercy and justice. They seem resolved on making their eternal perdition less doubtful than ever by neglecting both the Lent and the Easter of this year. Let us offer up our penances far them, and beg of Jesus, by the merits of His sacred Passion, to redouble His mercies towards them and deliver from Satan these souls, for whose sakes He is about to shed His Blood.

11 MARCH – FERIA OF LENT

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Carthage, the holy martyrs Heraclius and Zosimus.

At Alexandria, the passion of the Saints Candidus, Piperion and twenty others.

At Laodicea in Syria, during the persecution of Diocletian, the holy martyrs Trophimus and Thalus, who obtained crowns of glory, after undergoing many severe torments.

At Antioch, the commemoration of many holy martyrs, some of whom by order of the emperor Maximian were laid on red-hot gridirons, not to be burned to death, but to suffer a longer time. Others were subjected to different horrible torments and won the palm of martyrdom.

Also the saints Gorgonius and Firmus.

At Cordova, St. Eulogius, a priest, who deserved to be associated with the martyrs of that city from the persecution of the Saracens because in writing of their combats for the faith he had envied their happiness.

At Sardis, the bishop St. Euthymius, who was banished by the Iconoclast emperor Michael for the worship of holy images. He consummated his martyrdom during the reign of Theophilus.

At Jerusalem, the bishop St. Sophronius.

At Milan, St. Benedict, bishop.

In the diocese of Amiens, the abbot St. Firmin.

At Carthage, St. Constantine, confessor.

At Babueum in Campania, St. Peter, confessor, renowned for miracles.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

11 MARCH – WEDNESDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Lesson – Exodus xx. 12‒24

Thus says the Lord God: “Honour your father and your mother, that you may be long lived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give you. You must not kill. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not bear false witness against your neighbour. You must not covet your neighbour’s house, neither desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his.” And all the people saw the voices and the flames, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and being terrified and struck with fear, they stood afar off, saying to Moses: “Speak to us, and we will hear. Let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people: “Fear not, for God is come to prove you, and that the dread of Him might be in you, and you should not sin.” And the people stood afar off. But Moses went to the dark cloud in which God was. And the Lord said to Moses: “Thus must you say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. You must not make gods of silver, nor make to yourselves gods of gold. You must make an altar of earth to me, and you must offer on it your holocausts and peace-offerings, your sheep and oxen, in every place where the memory of my Name will be.’”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Church reminds us today of the divine Commandments which relate to our duties towards our neighbour, beginning with that which enjoins respect to parents. Now that the faithful are intent on the great work of the conversion and amendment of their lives, it is well that they should he reminded that their duties towards their fellow-men are prescribed by God himself. Hence, it was God whom we offended, when we sinned against our neighbour. God first tells us what He Himself has a right to receive from our hands: He bids us adore and serve Him. He forbids the worship of idols. He enjoins the observance of the Sabbath, and prescribes sacrifices and ceremonies: but, at the same time, He commands us to love our neighbours as ourselves, and assures us that He will be their avenger when we have wronged them, unless we repair the injury.

The voice of Jehovah on Sinai is not less commanding when it proclaims what our duties are to our neighbour, than when it tells us our obligations to our Creator. Thus Enlightened as to the origin of our duties, we will have a clearer view of the state of our conscience, and of the atonement required of us by Divine Justice. But, if the Old Law, that was written on tablets of stone, thus urges upon us the precept of the love of our neighbour, how much more will not the New Law, that was signed with the blood of Jesus, when dying on the Cross for His ungrateful brethren, insist on our observance of fraternal charity? These are the two Laws on which we will be judged. Let us, therefore, carefully observe what they command on this head, that thus we may prove ourselves to be Christians, according to those words of our Saviour: By this will all men know that you are my dimples, if you have love one for another (Luke viii. 35).

Gospel – Matthew xv. 1‒20

At that time, the Scribes and Pharisees came from Jerusalem to Jesus, and saying to Him: “Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the ancients? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” But He answering, said to them: “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition? For God said: ‘Honour your father and mother’ and ‘He that will curse father or mother, let him die the death.’ But you say whoever will say to his father or mother, the gift whatever proceeds from me, will profit you, and he will not honour his father or mother, and you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition. Hypocrites, well has Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.’” And having called together the multitudes to Him, he said to them: “Hear and understand. Not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what cometh out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Then came His disciples, and said to Him: “Do you know that the Pharisees, when they heard this word, were scandalized?” But He answering, said: “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Leave them alone. They are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit.” And Peter answering, said to Him: “Expound to us this parable.” But He said: “Are you also yet without understanding? Do you not understand that whatever enters into the mouth, goes into the belly, and is cast out into the privy? But the things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and those things defile a man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands, does not defile a man.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Law that was given by God to Moses enjoined a great number of exterior practices and ceremonies, and they that were faithful among the Jews, zealously and carefully fulfilled them. Jesus Himself, though He was the Divine Law-giver, most humbly complied with them. But the Pharisees had added their own superstitious tradition to these divine laws and ordinances and made religion consist in the observance of these fanciful inventions. Our Saviour here tells the people not to be imposed upon by such teaching, and instructs them as to what is the real meaning of the external practices of the Law. The Pharisees prescribed a great many ablutions or washings to be observed during the course of the day. They would have it, that they who eat without having washed their hands, (and indeed the whole body, some time during the day) were defiled, and that the food they thus partook of was unclean, by reason, as they said, that they themselves had become defiled by having come near or touched objects which were specified by their whims. According to the Law of God, these objects were perfectly innocent. But according to the law of the Pharisees, almost everything was contagious and the only escape was endless washings! Jesus would have the Jews throw off this humiliating and arbitrary yoke, and reproaches the Pharisees for having corrupted and made void the Law of Moses. He tells them that there is no creature which is intrinsically and of its own nature unclean, and that a man’s conscience cannot be defiled by the mere fact of his eating certain kinds of food. Evil thoughts and evil deeds, these, says our Saviour, are the things that defile a man. Some heretics have interpreted these words as being an implicit condemnation of the exterior practices ordained by the Church, and more especially of abstinence. To such reasoners and teachers we may justly apply what our Saviour said to the Pharisees: They are blind and leaders of the blind. From this, that the sins into which a man falls by his use of material things are only sins on account of the malice of the will, which is spiritual — it does not follow that therefore man may without any sin, make use of material things, when God, or his Church forbid their use. God forbade our first parents, under pain of death, to eat the fruit of a certain tree. They ate it, and sin was the result of their eating. Was the fruit unclean of its own nature? No, it was a creature of God as well as the other fruits of Eden, but our first parents sinned by eating it because their doing so was an act of disobedience. Again, when God gave His Law on Mount Sinai, He forbade the Hebrews to eat the flesh of certain animals. If they ate it they were guilty of sin, not because this sort of food was intrinsically evil or cursed, but because they that partook of it disobeyed the Lord. The commandments of the Church regarding fasting and abstinence are of a similar nature with these. It is that we may secure to ourselves the blessing of Christian Penance — in other words, it is for our spiritual interest that the Church bids us abstain and fast at certain times. If we violate her law, it is not the food we take that defiles us, but the resisting a sacred power, which our Saviour, in yesterday’s Gospel, told us we are to obey under the heavy penalty which He expressed in those words: He that will not hear the Church will be counted as a heathen and publican.

10 MARCH – THE FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE

 

During the reign of the Emperor Licinius, and under the presidency of Agricolaus, the city of Sebaste in Armenia was honoured by being made the scene of the martyrdom of forty soldiers whose faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and patience in bearing tortures were so glorious. After having been frequently confined in a horrid dungeon, shackled with chains, and having had their faces beaten with stones, they were condemned to pass a bitter winter night in the open air, and on a frozen pool, that they might be frozen to death. When there, they united in this prayer: “Forty have we entered on the battle. Let us, O Lord, receive Forty Crowns, and suffer not our number to be broken. The number is an honoured one, for you fasted for forty days, and the divine law was given to the world after the same number of days was observed. Elias, too, sought God by a forty days fast, and was permitted to see Him.” All the guards except one were asleep. He overheard their prayer and saw them encircled with light, and Angels coming down from Heaven like messengers sent by a king, who distributed crowns to thirty-nine of the soldiers. Whereupon, he thus said to himself: “There are forty men. Where is the fortieth crown?” While so pondering, one of the number lost his courage. He could bear the cold no longer and threw himself into a warm bath which had been put near at hand. His saintly companions were exceedingly grieved at this.

But God would not suffer their prayer to be void. The sentinel, astonished at what he had witnessed, went immediately and awoke the guards. Then, taking off his garments, he cried out, with a loud voice that he was a Christian, and associated himself with the Martyrs. No sooner did the governor’s guards perceive that the sentinel had also declared himself to be a Christian, than they approached the Martyrs and, with clubs, broke their legs. All died under this torture except Melitho, who was the youngest of the forty. His mother, who was present, seeing that he was still living after his legs were broken, thus encouraged him: “My son, be patient yet awhile. Lo! Christ is at the door, helping you.” But as soon as she saw the other bodies being placed on carts that they might be thrown on the pile, and her son left behind (for the impious men hoped that if the boy survived, he might be induced to worship the idols) she lifted him up into her arms and, summing up all her strength, ran after the wagons on which the Martyrs’ bodies were being carried. Melithon died in his mother’s arms and the holy woman threw his body on the pile where the other martyrs were, that as he had been so united with them in faith and courage, he might be one with them in burial and go to Heaven in their company. As soon as the bodies were burnt, the pagans threw what remained into a river. The relics miraculously flowed to one and the same place, just as they were when they were taken from the pile. The Christians took them and respectfully buried them.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

We know the mystery of the number Forty. This tenth of March brings it before us. Forty new advocates! Forty encouraging us to enter bravely on our career of Penance! On the frozen pool which was their field of battle these Martyrs reminded one another that Jesus had fasted for Forty Days, and that they themselves were Forty in number! Let us, in our turn, compare their sufferings with the Lenten exercises which the Church imposes upon us and humble ourselves in seeing our cowardice. Or, if we begin with fervour, let us remember that the grand thing is to be faithful to the end, and bring to the Easter Solemnity the crown of our perseverance. Our Forty Martyrs patiently endured the cruellest tortures. The fear of God, and their deep-rooted conviction that He had an infinite claim to their fidelity, gave them the victory. How many times we have sinned and had not such severe temptations as theirs to palliate our fall? How can we sufficiently bless that Divine Mercy which spared us instead of abandoning us as he did that poor apostate who turned coward and was lost! But on what condition did God spare us? That we should not spare ourselves but do penance. He put into our hands the rights of His own justice. Justice, then, must be satisfied, and we must exercise it against ourselves. The Lives of the Saints will be of great help to us in this, for they will teach us how we are to look upon sin, how to avoid it and how strictly we are bound to do penance for it after having committed it.

*****

Valiant Soldiers of Christ who meet us, with your mysterious number, at this commencement of our Forty Days’ Fast, receive the homage of our devotion. Your memory is venerated throughout the whole Church, and your glory is great in Heaven. Though engaged in the service of an earthly prince, you were the Soldiers of the Eternal King: to Him were you faithful, and from Him did you receive your crown of eternal glory. We, also, are His soldiers. We are fighting for the kingdom of Heaven. Our enemies are many and powerful but, like you, we can conquer them if, like you, we use the arms which God has put in our hands. Faith in God’s word, hope in His assistance, and humility and prudence —with these we are sure of victory. Pray for us, Holy Martyrs, that we may keep from all compromise with our enemies, for our defeat is certain if we try to serve two masters. During these Forty Days we must put our arms in order, repair our lost strength and renew our engagements. Come to our assistance and get us a share in your brave spirit. A crown is also prepared for us: it is to be won on easier terms than yours, and yet we will lose it unless we keep up within us an esteem for our vocation. How many times, in our past lives, have we not forfeited that glorious crown? But God in His mercy has offered it to us again, and we are resolved on winning it. Oh for the glory of our common Lord and Master, make intercession for us.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Apamea in Phrygia, during the persecution of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, the birthday of the holy martyrs Caius and Alexander who were crowned with a glorious martyrdom as is related by Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis, in his book against the Cataphrygian heretics.

In Persia, the passion of forty-two holy martyrs.

At Corinth, the holy martyrs Codratus, Denis, Cyprian, Anecetus, Paul and Crescens, who were slain with the sword in the persecution of Decius and Valerian under the Governor Jason.

In Africa, the martyr St. Victor, on whose festival St. Augustine delivered a discourse to his people.

At Jerusalem, St. Macarius, bishop and confessor, at whose request the holy places were purified by Constantine and Helena, and beautified with sacred edifices.

At Paris, the decease of the abbot St. Droctoveus, who was a disciple of the blessed bishop Germanus.

In the monastery of Bobio, the abbot St. Attalus, renowned for miracles.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

10 MARCH – TUESDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Lesson – 4 Kings iv. 1‒7

In those days, a certain woman cried to Eliseus, saying: “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant was one that feared God, and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sous to serve him.”And Eliseus said to her: “What will you have me do for you? Tell me what have you in your house?” And she answered: “I your handmaid have nothing in my house but a little oil to anoint me.” And he said to her: “Go, borrow of all your neighbours empty vessels not a few. And go in, and shut your door, when you are within, with your sons, and pour out thereof into all those vessels, and when they are full take them away.” So the woman went, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons. They brought her the vessels and she poured in. And when the vessels were full, she said to her son: “Bring me yet a vessel.” And he answered: “I have no more.” And the oil stood, and she came and told the man of God. And he said: “Go, sell the oil, and pay the creditor, and you and your sons live of the rest.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

It is not difficult to unravel the mystery of this day’s Lesson. Man’s creditor is Satan. Our sins have made him so. “Go,” says the Prophet, “and pay the creditor.” But how is this to be done? —We will obtain the pardon of our sins by works of mercy, of which oil is the symbol. Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy (Matthew v. 7). Let us, then, during these days of salvation, secure our reconciliation and forgiveness by doing all we can to assist our brethren who are in want. Let us join alms-deeds to our fasting, and practise works of mercy. Thus will we touch the heart of our Heavenly Father. Putting our debts into His hands, we will take away from Satan all the claims he had upon us. Let us learn a lesson from this woman. She lets no one see her as she fill the vessels with oil. Let us also shut the door when we do good, so that our left hand will know not what our right hand does (Matthew vi. 3). Take notice, too, that the woman goes on pouring out the oil as long as she has vessels to hold it. So our mercy towards our neighbours must be proportionate to our means. The extent of these means is known to God, and He will not have us fall short of the power He has given us for doing good. Let us, then, be liberal in our alms during this holy Season. Let us make the resolution to be so at all times. When our material resources are exhausted, let us be merciful in desire, by interceding with those who are able to give, and by praying to God to help the suffering and the poor.

Gospel – Matthew xviii. 15‒22

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: “If your brother offends against you, go and rebuke him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you will gain your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them, tell the Church. And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to you as the heathen and publican. Amen I say to you, whatever you will bind on earth will be bound also in Heaven, and whatever you will loose on earth will be loosed also in Heaven. Again, I say to you, that if two of you will consent on earth concerning anything whatever they will ask, it will be done to them by my Father, who is in Heaven, for where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Then came Peter to Him and said: “Lord, how often will my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” Jesus said to him: “I say not to you, till seven times, but till seventy times seven times.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The mercy which God commands us to show to our fellow-creatures does not consist only in corporal and spiritual alms-deeds to the poor and the suffering. It includes, moreover, the pardon and forgetfulness of injuries. This is the test by which God proves the sincerity of our conversion: With the same measure that you will mete withal, it will be measured to you again (Luke vi. 38). If we, from our hearts, pardon our enemies, our Heavenly Father will unreservedly pardon us. These are the days when we are hoping to be reconciled with our God. Let us do all we can to gain our brother, and for this end, pardon him, if needs be, seventy times seven times.

Surely, we are not going to allow the miserable quarrels of our earthly pilgrimage to make us lose heaven! Therefore, let us forgive insults and injuries, and thus imitate our God Himself, who is ever forgiving us. But how grand are these other words of our Gospel: Whatever you will loose on earth will be loosed also in Heaven! Oh! the hope, and joy they bring to our hearts! How countless is the number of sinners, who are soon to feel the truth of this consoling promise! They will confess their sins and offer to God the homage of a contrite and humble heart, and, at the very moment that the hand of the Priest will loosen them on earth, the hand of God will loosen them from the bonds which held them as victims to eternal punishment.

And lastly, let us not pass by unnoticed this other sentence, which has a close relation with the one we have just alluded to: If a man hears not the Church, let him be to you as a heathen and publican. What is this Church? Men, to whom Jesus Christ said: “He that hears, you hear me, and he that despises you, despises me” (Luke x. 16). Men, from whose lips comes to the world the truth without which there is no salvation: Men, who are the only ones on earth who have power to reconcile the sinner with his God, save him from the Hell he has deserved, and open to him the gates of Heaven. Can we be surprised, after this, that our Saviour — who would have these men to be His instruments, and as it were, the communication between Himself and mankind — should treat as a heathen, as one that has never received Baptism, him that refuses to acknowledge their authority? There is no revealed truth except through their teaching. There is no salvation except through the Sacraments which they administer. There is no hoping in Christ Jesus except where there is submission to the spiritual laws which they promulgate.

9 MARCH – SAINT FRANCES OF ROME (Widow)

 

Frances, a noble lady of Rome, led a most virtuous life even in her earliest years. She despised all childish amusements and worldly pleasures, her only delight being solitude and prayer. When eleven years old she resolved on consecrating her virginity to God and seeking admission into a monastery. But she humbly yielded to the wishes of her parents and married a young and rich nobleman, Lorenzo Ponziani. As far as it was possible, she observed in the married state the austerities of the most perfect life to which she had aspired. She carefully shunned theatrical entertainments, banquets and other such amusements. Her dress was of serge and extremely plain. Whatever time remained after she had fulfilled her domestic duties was spent in prayer and works of charity. But her zeal was mainly exercised in endeavouring to persuade the ladies of Rome to shun the world, and vanity in dress. It was with a view to this that she founded, during her husband’s lite, the House of Oblates of the Congregation of Monte-Oliveto under the Rule of Saint Benedict. She bore her husband’s banishment, the loss of all her goods and the trouble which befell her whole family, not only with heroic patience, but was frequently heard to give thanks, saying with holy Job: “The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord!”

At the death of her husband, Frances fled to her House of Oblates and there, barefooted, with a rope tied round her neck and prostrate on the ground, she humbly and with many tears begged admission. Her petition being granted, she, though mother of the whole community, gloried in calling herself everyone’s servant and a worthless woman, and a vessel of dishonour. She evinced the contempt she had for herself by her conduct, as well as by her expressions. Thus, when returning from a vineyard in the suburbs, she would go through the city, sometimes carrying faggots on her head, sometimes driving an ass laden with them. She looked after, and bestowed abundant alms upon the poor. She visited the sick in the hospitals and consoled them not only with corporal food, but with spiritual advice. She was untiring in her endeavours to bring her body into subjection, by watchings, fasting, wearing a hair-shirt and an iron girdle, and by frequent disciplines. Her food, which she took but once in the day, consisted of herbs and pulse, and her only drink was water. But she would somewhat relent in these corporal austerities as often as she was requested to do so by her confessor, whom she obeyed with the utmost exactitude.

Her contemplation of the divine mysteries, and especially of the Passion, was made with such intense fervour and abundance of tears that she seemed as though she would die with grief. Frequently, too, when she was praying, and above all after Holy Communion, she would remain motionless with her soul fixed on God and rapt in heavenly contemplation. The enemy of mankind seeing this, endeavoured to frighten her out of so holy a life by insults and blows, but she feared him not, invariably baffled his attempts and, by the assistance of her Angel Guardian whose visible presence was granted to her, she gained a glorious victory. God favoured her with the gift of healing the sick, as also with that of prophecy, by which she foretold future events and could read the secrets of hearts. More than once, when she was intent on prayer, either in the bed of a torrent or during a storm of rain, she was not touched by the water. On one occasion when all the bread they had was scarcely enough to provide a meal for three of the sisters, she besought our Lord, and He multiplied the bread so that after fifteen persons had eaten as much as they needed, there was sufficient left to fill a basket. At another time, when the sisters were gathering wood outside the city walls in January, she amply quenched their thirst by offering them bunches of fresh grapes which she plucked from a vine, and which she had miraculously obtained.

Her virtues and miracles procured for her the greatest veneration from all. Our Lord called her to Himself in the fifty-sixth year of her age, and she was canonised by Pope Paul V.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The period intervening between the Purification of our Blessed Lady and Ash Wednesday (when it occurs at its latest date), gives us thirty-six days. And these offer us a Feast of every order of Saint. The Apostles have given us Saint Matthias and Saint Peter’s Chair. The Martyrs have sent us, from their countless choir, Simeon, Blase, Valentine, Faustinus and Jovita, Perpetua and Felicitas, and the Forty Soldiers of Sebaste, whose Feast is kept tomorrow. The holy Pontiffs have been represented by Andrew Corsini and Peter Damian who, together with Thomas Aquinas, is one of the Doctors of the Church. The Confessors have produced Romuald of Camaldoli, John of Matha, John of God and the angelic prince Casimir. The Virgins have gladdened us with the presence of Agatha, Dorothy, Apollonia and Scholastica, three wreathed with the red roses of martyrdom, and the fourth with her fair lilies of the enclosed garden (Canticles iv. 12) of her Spouse. And lastly, we have had a Penitent-Saint, Margherita of Cortona. The state of Christian marriage is the only one that has not yet deputed a Saint during this season which is the least rich in Feasts of the whole year. The deficiency is supplied today by the admirable Frances of Rome.

Having for forty years led a most saintly life in the married state upon which she entered when but twelve years of age, Frances retired from the world where she had endured every sort of tribulation. But she had given her heart to her God long before she withdrew to the cloister. Her whole life had been spent in the exercise of the highest Christian perfection, and she had ever received from our Lord the sublimest spiritual favours. Her amiable disposition had won for her the love and admiration of her husband and children: the rich venerated her as their model, the poor respected her as their devoted benefactress and mother. God recompensed her angelic virtues by these two special graces: the almost uninterrupted sight of her Guardian Angel, and the receiving most sublime revelations. But there is one trait of her life which is particularly striking and reminds us forcibly of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, and of Saint Jane Frances Chantal: her austere practices of penance. Such an innocent, and yet such a mortified life, is full of instruction for us. How can we think of murmuring against the obligation of mortification when we find a saint like this practising it during her whole life? True, we are not bound to imitate her in the manner of her penance, but penance we must do if we would confidently approach that God who readily pardons the sinner when he repents, but whose justice requires atonement and satisfaction.

*****

O Frances, sublime model of every virtue! You were the glory of Christian Rome and the ornament of your sex. How insignificant are the pagan heroines of old compared with you! Your fidelity to the duties of your state, and all your saintly actions, had God for their one single end and motive. The world looked on you with amazement as though Heaven had lent one of its Angels to this Earth. Humility and penance put such energy into your soul that every trial was met and mastered. Your love for those whom God Himself had given you, your calm resignation and interior joy under tribulation, your simple and generous charity to every neighbour — all was evidence of God’s dwelling within your soul. Your seeing and conversing with your Angel Guardian and the wonderful revelations granted you of the secrets of the other world — how much these favours tell us of your merits? Nature suspended her laws at your bidding. She was subservient to you as to one that was already face to face with the Sovereign Master, and had the power to command. We admire these privileges and gifts granted you by our Lord and now beseech you to have pity on us who are so far from being in that path in which you so perseveringly walked. Pray for us that we may be Christians, practically and earnestly; that we may cease to love the world and its vanities; that we may courageously take up the yoke of our Lord and do penance; that we may give up our pride; that we may be patient and firm under temptation. Such was your influence with our Heavenly Father that you had but to pray, and a vine produced the richest clusters of fruit, even in the midst of winter. Our Jesus calls Himself the True Vine. Ask Him to give us of the wine of His divine love which His Cross has so richly prepared for us. When we remember how frequently you asked Him to let you suffer and accept your sufferings for poor sinners, we feel encouraged to ask you to offer your merits to Him for us. Pray, too, for Rome, your native city, that her people may be staunch to the faith, edifying by holiness of life, and loyal to the Church. May your powerful intercession bring blessings on the Faithful throughout the world, add to their number, and make them fervent as were our fathers of old.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Sebaste in Armenia, under the governor Agricolaus in the time of the emperor Licinius, the birthday of forty holy soldiers of Cappadocia. After being loaded with chains and confined in foul dungeons, after having their faces bruised with stones, and being condemned to spend the night naked during the coldest part of winter on a frozen lake, where their bodies were benumbed and laid open by the frost, they ended their martyrdom by having their limbs crushed. The noblest of them were Cyrion and Candidus. Their glorious triumph has been celebrated by St. Basil and other Fathers in their writings. Their feast is kept on the tenth of this month.

At Nyssa, the demise of St. Gregory, bishop, brother of blessed Basil the Great, whose life and erudition have rendered him illustrious. He was expelled from his own city for having defended the Catholic faith during the reign of the Arian emperor Valens.

At Barcelona in Spain, the bishop St. Pacian, distinguished by his life and preaching. He ended his career in extreme old age in the time of the emperor Theodosius.

In Moravia, the saintly bishops Cyril and Methodius, who brought to the faith of Christ many nations in those regions with their kings. Pope Leo XIII prescribed that their feast should be celebrated on the seventh of July.

At Bologna, St. Catherine, virgin, of the Order of St. Clare, illustrious by the holiness of her life. Her body is greatly honoured in that city.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

9 MARCH – MONDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Epistle – 4 Kings v. 1‒15

In those days Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria, and he was a valiant man and rich, but a leper. Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman’ wife. And she said to her mistress: “I wish my master had been with the prophet that is in Samaria. He would certainly have healed him of the leprosy which he has.” Then Naaman went in to his lord and told him, saying: “Thus and thus says the girl that came from the land of Israel.” 

And the king of Syria said to him: “Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment, and brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: “When you will receive this letter, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may heal him of his leprosy.” And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his garments and said: “Am I God, to be able to kill and to give life, that this man has sent to me, to heal a man of his leprosy? Mark, and see how he seeks occasions against me.” And when Eliseus the man of God had heard this, to wit, that the king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him, saying: “Why have you rent your garments? Let him come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 

So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus, and Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will recover health, and you will be clean.” Naaman was angry and went away, saying: “I thought he would have come out to me, and standing, would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me. Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them and be made clean?” So as he turned, and was going away with indignation, his servants came to him, and said to him: “Father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, surely you should have done it. How much rather what he now has said to you, ‘Wash and you will be clean?’” Then he went down and washed in the Jordan seven times according to the word of the man of God,; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and was made clean. And returning to the man of God with all his train, he came and stood before him and said: “In truth I know there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Naaman’s leprosy is a figure of sin. There is but one cure for the loathsome malady of the Syrian officer: he must go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and he will be made clean. The Gentile, the infidel, the infant, with its stain of original sin — all may he made just and holy, but this can only be effected by water and the invocation of the Blessed Trinity. Naaman objects to the remedy as being too simple. He cannot believe that one so insignificant can be efficacious. He refuses to try it. He expected something more in accordance with reason — for instance, a miracle that would have done honour both to himself and the Prophet. This was the reasoning of many a Gentile when the Apostles went about preaching the Gospel, but they that believed, with simple-hearted faith in the power of water sanctified by Christ, received regeneration, and the baptismal font created a new people, composed of all nations of the earth. Naaman, who represents the Gentiles, was at length induced to believe, and his faith was rewarded by a complete cure. His flesh was restored like that of a little child which has never suffered taint or disease. Let us give glory to God who has endowed water with the heavenly power it now possesses. Let us praise Him for the wonderful workings of His grace, which produces in docile hearts that faith whose recompense is so magnificent.

Gospel – Luke iv. 23‒30

At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees: “Doubtless you will say to me this similitude: ‘Physician, heal yourself. As great things as we have heard done in Capharnaum, do also here in your own country.’” And He said: “Amen, I say to you that no prophet is accepted in his own country. In truth, I say to you, there were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel, when heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there was a great famine throughout all the land: and to none of them was Elias sent, but to Sarephta of Sidon, to a widow woman. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elieus the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.” And all they in the synagogue, hearing these things were filled with anger, and they rose up and thrust Him out of the city, and they brought him to the brow of the hill, on which their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong. But He passing through the midst of them, went His way.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Here again we find our Saviour proclaiming the mystery of the Gentiles being called to take the place of the incredulous Jews, and He mentions Naaman as an example of this merciful substitution. He also speaks, in the same sense, of the widow of Sarephta whose history we had a few days ago. This terrible resolution of our Lord to transfer His light from one people to another irritates the Pharisees of Nazareth against the Messiah. They know that Jesus, who has only just commenced His public life, has been working great miracles in Capharnaum: they would have Him honour their own little city in the same way, but Jesus knows that they would not be converted. 

Do these people of Nazareth so much as know Jesus? He has lived among them for eighteen years, during all which time He has been advancing in wisdom and age and grace before God and men (Luke ii. 52), but they despise Him, for He is a poor man, and the son of a carpenter. They do not even know that though He has passed so many years among them, He was not born in their city, but in Bethlehem. Not many days before this, Jesus had gone into the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke iv. 16‒22) and had explained, with marvellous eloquence and power, the Prophet Isaias. He told His audience that the time of mercy was come, and His discourse excited much surprise and admiration. But the Pharisees of the city despised His words. They have heard that He has been working great things in the neighbourhood. They are curious to see one of His miracles, but Jesus refuses to satisfy their unworthy desire. 

Let them recall to mind the discourse made by Jesus in their synagogue, and tremble at the announcement He then made to them, that the Gentiles were to become God’s chosen people. But the divine Prophet is not accepted in His own country, and had He not withdrawn Himself from the anger of His compatriots of Nazareth, the blood of the Just would have been shed that very day. But there is an unenviable privilege which belongs exclusively to Jerusalem — a Prophet cannot perish out of Jerusalem! (Luke viii. 33).

 

8 MARCH – SAINT JOHN OF GOD (Confessor)

 

John of God was born of Catholic and virtuous parents in Montemor, Portugal. At his birth a bright light shone on the house and the church bell was heard to ring of itself, God thus evincing to what great things he destined his servant. For some time he fell into a lax way of living but was reclaimed by God’s grace and led a very holy life. His conversion was effected by his hearing a sermon, and so fervently did he practise the exercises of a devout life that from the very first he seemed to have attained the height of perfection. He gave whatever he possessed to the poor who were in prison. Extraordinary were the penances he inflicted on himself, and the contempt he had for himself induced him to do certain things which led some people to accuse him of madness, so that he was for some time confined in a madhouse. His charity only increased by such treatment.

John collected alms sufficient to build two large hospitals in Granada where also he began the new Order with which he enriched the Church. This Order was called the Institute of Friars Hospitallers. Its object was to assist the sick, both in their spiritual and corporal wants. Its success was very great and it had Houses in almost all parts of the world. The Saint often carried the sick poor on his own shoulders to the hospital, and there he provided them with everything they could want, whether in soul or body. His charity was not confined within the limits of his hospitals. He secretly provided food for indigent widows, and girls whose virtue was exposed to danger. Nothing could exceed the zeal with which he laboured to reclaim such as had fallen into sins of impurity. On occasion of an immense fire breaking out in the royal Hospital of Granada, John fearlessly threw himself into the midst of the flames. He went through the several wards, taking the sick upon his shoulders and throwing the beds through the windows, so that all were saved. He remained half an hour amid the flames which raged with wildest fury in every part of the building. He was miraculously preserved from the slightest injury, and came forth to the astonishment of the whole city, teaching the people who had witnessed what had happened that, in the disciples of charity, there is a fire within their hearts more active than any which could burn the body.

Among the virtues in which John wonderfully excelled may be mentioned his many practices of bodily mortification, profound obedience, extreme poverty, love of prayer, contemplation and devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He also possessed, in an extraordinary degree, the gift of tears. At length, falling seriously ill, he fervently received the last Sacraments. Though reduced to a state of utter weakness, he dressed himself, rose from his bed, fell on his knees, devoutly took the Crucifix into his hands, pressed it to his heart, and kissing it, died on the eighth of the Ides of March (March 8th), in 1550. He remained in this same attitude, with the Crucifix still in his hands, for about six hours after his death. The entire city came to see the holy corpse which gave forth a heavenly fragrance. The body was then removed in order that it might be buried. God honoured his servant by many miracles, both before and after his death, and he was canonised by Pope Alexander VIII.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This day in the month we were keeping the feast of Saint John of Matha whose characteristic virtue was charity. Our Saint of today was like him. Love for his neighbour led him to devote himself to the service of them that most needed help. Both are examples to us of what is a principal duty of this present Season: they are models of Fraternal Charity. They teach us this great lesson — that our love of God is false if our hearts are not disposed to show mercy to our neighbour, and help him in his necessities and troubles. It is the same lesson as that which the Beloved Disciple gives us when he says: “He that has the substance of this world, and will see his brother in need, and will put up his mercy from him, how does the charity of God abide in him? (1 John iii. 17).

But if there can be no love of God where there is none for our neighbour, the love of our neighbour itself is not genuine unless it be accompanied by a love of our Creator and Redeemer. The charity which the world has set up, which it calls Philanthropy, and which it exercises not in the name of God but solely for the sake of man, this pretended virtue is a mere delusion, is incapable of producing love between those who give and those who receive, and its results must necessarily be unsatisfactory. There is but one tie which can make men love one another: that tie is God who created them all and commands them all to be one in Him. To serve mankind for its own sake is to make a god of it and even viewing the workings of the two systems in this single point of view, the relief they afford to temporal suffering, what comparison is there between mere Philanthropy and that supernatural Charity of the humble disciples of Christ who make Him the very motive and end of all they do for their afflicted brethren? The Saint we honour today was called John of God because the Name of God was ever on his lips. His heroic acts of charity had no other motive than that of pleasing God. God alone was the inspirer of the tender love he had for his suffering fellow-creatures. Let us imitate his example, for our Lord assures us that He considers as done to Himself whatever we do even for the least of His disciples.

*****

What a glorious life was yours, O John of God! It was one of charity, and of miracles wrought by charity. Like Vincent of Paul, you were poor and, in your early life, a shepherd-boy like him. But the charity which filled your heart gave you a power to do what worldly influence and riches never can. Your name and memory are clear to the Church. They deserve to be held in benediction by all mankind, for you spent your life in serving your fellow-creatures for God’s sake. That motive gave you a devotedness to the poor, which is an impossibility for those who befriend them from mere natural sympathy. Philanthropy may be generous and its workings may be admirable for ingenuity and order, but it never can look upon the poor man as a sacred object because it refuses to see God in Him. Pray for the men of this generation that they may at length desist from perverting charity into a mere mechanism of relief. The poor are the representatives of Christ, for He Himself has willed that they be such: and if the world refuse to accept them in this their exalted character, if it denies their resemblance to our Redeemer, it may succeed in degrading the poor, but this very degradation will make them enemies of its insulter. Your predilection, O John of God, was for the sick. Have pity, therefore, on our times which are ambitious to eliminate the supernatural and exclude God from the world by what is called secularisation of society. Pray for us that we may see how evil a thing it is to have changed the Christian for the worldly spirit. Kindle holy charity within our hearts, that during these days, when we are striving to draw down the mercy of God upon ourselves, we also may show mercy. May we, as you did, imitate the example of our Blessed Redeemer who gave Himself to us who were His enemies and deigned to adopt us as His brethren. Protect also the Order you instituted and which has inherited your spirit, that it may prosper and spread in every place the sweet odour of that charity which is its very name.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Antinous in Egypt, the birthday of the holy martyr Philemon, and the deacon Apollonius. As they firmly refused to sacrifice to the idols when they were apprehended and brought before the judge, they had their heels transpierced, were barbarously dragged through the city and finally consummated their martyrdom by the edge of the sword.

Also in the same place, the passion of the Saints Arianus, governor, Theoticus and three others, who were submerged in the sea by order of the judge. Their bodies were brought to the shore by dolphins.

At Nicomedia, St. Quinctilis, bishop and martyr.

At Carthage, St. Pontius, deacon of bishop St. Cyprian, who remained in banishment with him until his death, and composed an excellent history of his life and martyrdom. By ever glorifying God in his own sufferings he merited the crown of life.

Also in Africa, the Saints Cyril, bishop, Rogatus, Felix, another Rogatus, Beata, Herenia, Felicitas, Urbanus, Sylvanus and Mamillus.

At Toledo in Spain, the demise of blessed Julian, bishop and confessor, most celebrated for his sanctity and learning.

In England, St. Felix, bishop, who converted the East Angles to the faith.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.