23 FEBRUARY – SAINT PETER DAMIAN (Cardinal and Doctor of the Church)

Peter was born at Ravenna of respectable parents in 988 AD. His mother, wearied with caring for a large family, abandoned him when he was a baby. However, one of her female servants found him in an almost dying state and took care of him until his mother, repenting of her unnatural conduct, consented to treat him as her child. After the death of his parents, one of his brothers, a most harsh man, took him as a servant or slave. It was about this period of his life that he performed an action which evinced his virtue and his filial piety. He happened to find a large sum of money, but instead of using it for his own wants, he gave it to a priest, begging him to offer up the Holy Sacrifice for the repose of his father’s soul. Another of his brothers, called Damian (after whom, it is said, he was named), had Peter educated. So rapid and great was the progress he made in his studies that he was the admiration of his masters. He became so proficient in the liberal sciences that he was made to teach them in the public schools, which he did with great success. During all this time it was his study to bring his body into subjection to the spirit, and to this end he wore a hair-shirt under an outwardly comfortable dress, and practised frequent fasting, watching and prayer. Being in the very ardour of youth, and being cruelly buffeted by the sting of the flesh, during the night he would go plunge himself into a frozen pool of water to quench the impure flame which tormented him. He would also make pilgrimages to holy sanctuaries and recite the entire Psaltery. His charities to the poor were unceasing, and when frequently he provided them with a meal, he would wait upon them himself.

Out of a desire to lead a still more perfect life, Peter became a religious in the Monastery of Avellino in the diocese of Gubbio of the Order of the Monks of Holy Cross of Fontavellana which was founded by the blessed Ludolphus, a disciple of Saint Romuald. Being sent by his Abbot first to the Monastery of Pomposia, and then to that of Saint Vincent of Pietra-Pertusa, he edified both houses by his preaching, admirable teaching and holy life. At the death of the Abbot of Avellino he was recalled to that monastery and was made its superior. The institute so benefited by his government, not only by the new monasteries which he founded in several places, but also by the very saintly regulations he drew up, that he was justly regarded as the second founder of the Order and its brightest ornament. Houses of other Orders, Canons and even entire congregations of the faithful benefited from Peter’s enlightened zeal. He was a benefactor, in more ways than one, to the diocese of Urbino. He aided the Bishop Theuzo in a most important suit, and assisted him by advice and work in the right administration of his diocese. His spirit of holy contemplation, corporal austerities and saintly tenor of his whole conduct gained for him so high a reputation that Pope Stephen IX, in spite of Peter’s extreme reluctance, created him a Cardinal of the holy Roman Church and appointed him Bishop of Ostia. The saint proved himself worthy of these honours by the exercise of the most eminent virtues, and by the faithful discharge of his episcopal office.

It would be impossible to describe the services Peter rendered to the Church and the Sovereign Pontiffs during those most trying times by his learning, his prudence as legate and his untiring zeal. His life was one continued struggle against simony and the heresy of the Nicolaites. He purged the Church of Milan of these disorders and brought her into subjection to the Holy See. He courageously resisted the anti-popes Benedict and Cadolaus. He deterred King Henry IV of Germany from an unjust divorce of his wife. He restored the people of Ravenna to their allegiance to the Roman Pontiff and absolved them from interdict. He reformed the abuses which had crept in among the Canons of Velletri. There was scarcely a single Cathedral Church in the Province of Urbino that had not experienced the beneficial effects of Peter's holy zeal. Thus, that of Gubbio, which was for some time under his care, was relieved by him of many evils. And other Churches that needed his help found him as earnest for their welfare as though he were their own bishop. When he obtained permission to resign as Cardinal and Bishop, he relented nothing of his former charity but was equally ready in doing good to all. He was instrumental in propagating many devout practices including fasting on Fridays in honour of the Holy Cross, reciting the Little Office of our Lady, the keeping the Saturday as a day especially devoted to Mary, and the taking the discipline in expiation of past sins.

After a life which had edified the world by holiness, learning, miracles and glorious works, on his return from Ravenna to which he had been sent as legate, Peter fell asleep in Christ on the eighth of the Calends of March (February 23rd) at Faenza in 1072 AD. His relics, which are kept in the Cistercian Church of that town, are devoutly honoured by the faithful and many miracles are wrought at the holy shrine. The inhabitants of Faenza chose him as the patron of their city, having several times experienced his protection when threatened by danger. His Mass and Office, which were kept under the rite of Confessor and Bishop, had been long observed in several Dioceses and by the Camaldolese Order, but they were extended to the whole Church by a decree of the Congregation of Sacred Rites which was approved by Pope Leo XII who also added to the name of the Saint that of Doctor.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

It is the feast of the austere reformer of the eleventh century, Peter Damian, the precursor of the holy Pontiff Gregory VII, that we are called upon to celebrate today. To him is due a share of that glorious regeneration which was effected at that troubled period when judgement had to begin at the House of God. The life he had led under the monastic Rule had fitted him for the great contest. So zealously did he withstand the disorders and abuses of his times that we may attribute to him, at least in great measure, the ardent faith of the two centuries which followed the scandals of the tenth. The Church ranks him among her Doctors on account of his admirable writings, and his penitential life ought to excite us to be fervent in the work we have in hand, the work of our conversion.

*****

Your soul was inflamed by the zeal of God’s House, O Peter! God gave you to His Church in those sad times when the wickedness of the world had robbed her of well nearly all her beauty. You had the spirit of an Elias within you, and it gave you courage to waken the servants of the Lord: they had slept, and while they were asleep, the enemy came and the field was oversown with tares (Matthew xiii. 25). Then did better days dawn for the Spouse of Christ. The promises made her by our Lord were fulfilled, but who was the Friend of the Bridegroom? (John iii. 29). Who was the chief instrument used by God to bring back to His House its ancient beauty? A Saint who bore the glorious name of Peter Damian! In those days the Sanctuary was degraded by secular interference. The Princes of the Earth said: “Let us possess the Sanctuary of God for an inheritance” (Psalm lxxxii. 13). The Church which God intended to be free was but a slave in the power of the rulers of this world, and the vices which are inherent to human weakness defiled the Temple. But God had pity on the Spouse of Christ, and for her deliverance he would use human agency: he chose you, Peter, as his principal co-operator in restoring order. Your example and your labours prepared the way for Gregory, the faithful and dauntless Hildebrand into whose hands the keys once placed, and the work of regeneration was completed. You have fought the good fight. You are now in your rest, but your love of the Church and your power to help, are greater than ever. Watch, then, over her interests. Obtain for her Pastors that Apostolic energy and courage which alone can cope with enemies so determined as hers are. Obtain for her Priests the holiness which God demands from them that are the salt of the Earth (Matthew v. 13). Obtain for the faithful the respect and obedience they owe to those who direct them in the path of salvation. You were not only the Apostle, you were moreover the model, of penance in the midst of a corrupt age. Pray for us that we may be eager to atone for our sins by works of mortification. Excite within our souls the remembrance of the sufferings of our Redeemer so that His Passion may urge us to repentance and hope. Increase our confidence in Mary, the Refuge of Sinners, and make us, like yourself, full of filial affection towards her and of zeal that she may be honoured and loved by those who are around us.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The vigil of the Apostle St. Matthias.

At Sirmium, St. Sirenus, monk and martyr. By order of the emperor Maximian he was arrested and beheaded for confessing that he was a Christian.

In the same place, the birthday of seventy-two holy martyrs who ended the combat of martyrdom in that city and took possession of the everlasting kingdom.

At Rome, St. Polycarp, priest, who with blessed Sebastian converted many to the faith of Christ, and by his exhortations led them to the glory of martyrdom.

In the city of Astorga, St. Martha, virgin and martyr, under the emperor Decius and the pro-consul Paternus.

At Constantinople, St. Lazarus, a monk whom the Iconoclast emperor Theophilus ordered to be put to the torture for having painted holy images. His hand was burned with a hot iron, but being healed by the power of God, he painted anew the holy pictures that had been defaced, and finally rested in peace.

At Brescia, St. Felix, bishop.

At Seville in Spain, St. Florentius, confessor.

At Todi, St. Romana, virgin, who was baptised by Pope St. Sylvester. She led a heavenly life in caves and dens, and wrought glorious miracles.

In England, St. Milburga, virgin, daughter of the king of Mercia.

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

Thanks be to God.

23 FEBRUARY – MONDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Each feria of Lent has a proper Mass, whereas in Advent the Mass of the preceding Sunday is repeated during the week. This richness of the Lenten Liturgy is a powerful means for our entering into the Church’s spirit, since she hereby brings before us, under so many forms, the sentiments suited to this holy time.

Epistle – Ezechiel xxxiv. 10‒16

Thus says the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and will visit them. As the shepherd visits his flock in the day when he will be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered; so will I visit my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land; and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land. I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures will be in the high mountains of Israel: there will they rest on the green grass and be fed in fat pastures on the mountains of Israel. I will feed my sheep; and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and that which was driven away I will bring again; and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve; and I will feed them in judgement, says the Lord Almighty.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Our Lord here shows Himself to us as a Shepherd full of love for His Sheep. Such, indeed, He truly is to men, during this Season of mercy. A portion of His flock had gone astray, and was wandering to and fro amid the darkness of this world; but Jesus did not forget them. He went in search of them, that He might gather them together. He sought them through lonely deserts, and rocky places, and brambles. He now speaks to them through His Church, and invites them to return. He sweetly encourages them, for perhaps they might fear and be ashamed to appear before Him, after so many sins. He promises them, that if they will but return to him, they will be fed on the richest pastures, near the river bank, and on the mountains of Israel. They are covered with wounds, but He will bind them up; they are weak, but He will strengthen them. He will once more give them fellowship with the faithful ones who never left Him, and He Himself will dwell with them for ever. Let the sinner, then, yield to this tender love; let him not refuse to make the efforts required for his conversion. If these efforts of penance seem painful to nature, let him recall to mind those happy days, when he was in grace, and in the fold of his Good Shepherd. He may be so again. The gate of the fold is open; and thousands, who, like himself, had gone astray, are going in with joy and confidence. Let him follow them, and remember how his Jesus has said: There will be joy in heaven upon one sinner that does penance, more than upon ninety-nine who need not penance (Luke xv. 7).

Gospel – Matthew xxv. 31‒46

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: “When the Son of man will come in His majesty, and all the Angels with Him, then will he sit on the seat of His majesty. And all nations will be gathered together before him, and He will separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then will the King say to them that will be on His right hand: ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.’ Then will the just answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and fed you? Thirsty, and gave you drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and took you in? Or naked, and clothed you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison, and came to you?’ And the King answering, will say to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, as long as you have done it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.’ Then will He say to them also that will be on His left hand: ‘Depart from, me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer Him, saying: Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you? Then He will answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.’ And these will go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

We have just been listening to a Prophet of the Old Testament, inviting us to return to the Good Shepherd — Our Lord there put forth every argument, which love could devise, to persuade His lost sheep to return to Him: and here, on the very same day that the Church speaks to us of our God as being a gentle and compassionate Shepherd, she describes Him as an inflexible Judge. This loving Jesus, this charitable Physician of our souls, is seated on his dread tribunal, and cries out in His anger: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire! And where has the Church found this awful description? In the Gospel, that is, in the very Law of Love.— But, if we read our passage attentively, we will find, that He who pronounces this terrible anathema, is the same God, whom the Prophet has been just portraying as a Shepherd full of mercy, patience, and zeal for His Sheep. Observe how He is still a Shepherd, even on his judgement-seat: He separates the sheep from the goats; He sets the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left; the idea, the comparison of a Flock is still kept up. The Son of God will exercise His office of Shepherd even to the Last Day: only, then, time will be at an end, and eternity will have begun; the reign of Justice, too, will have succeeded the reign of Mercy, for it will be Justice, that will reward the good with the promised recompense, and that will punish impenitent sinners with eternal torments. How can the Christian, who believes that we are all to stand before this tribunal, refuse the invitation of the Church, who now presses him to make satisfaction for his sins? How can he hesitate to go through those easy penances, with which the Divine Mercy now deigns to be satisfied? Truly, man is his own worst enemy, if he can disregard these words of Jesus, who now is his Saviour, and then will be his Judge: Unless you do penance, you will all perish.

22 FEBRUARY – THE CHAIR OF SAINT PETER

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Archangel Gabriel told Mary in the Annunciation that the Son who was to be born of her should be a king, and that of His kingdom there should be no end. Hence, when the Magi were led from the East to the crib of Jesus, they proclaimed it in Jerusalem that they came to seek a king. But this new Empire needed a Capital and whereas the king who was to fix His throne in it was, according to the eternal decrees, to re-ascend into Heaven, it was necessary that the visible character of His royalty should be left here on Earth, and this even to the end of the world. He that should be invested with this visible character of Christ our King would be the Vicar of Christ.

Our Lord Jesus Christ chose Simon for this sublime dignity of being His Vicar. He changed his name into one which signifies the Rock, that is “Peter” and in giving him this new name, He tells us that the whole Church throughout the world is to rest upon this man, as upon a Rock, which nothing will ever move (Matthew xvi. 18). But this promise of our Lord included another — namely, that as Peter was to close his earthly career by the Cross, he would give him successors in whom Peter and his authority should live to the end of time.

But, again — there must be some mark or sign of this succession to designate to the world who the Pontiff is, on whom, to the end of the world, the Church is to be built. There are so many Bishops in the Church — in which one of them is Peter continued? This Prince of the Apostles founded and governed several Churches, but only one of these was watered with his blood, and that one was Rome. Only one of these is enriched with his tomb, and that one is Rome. The Bishop of Pome, therefore, is the Successor of Peter and consequently the Vicar of Christ. It is of the Bishop of Rome alone that it is said: “Upon you will I build my Church:” (Matthew xvi. 18), and again: “To you will I give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven,” (Matthew xvi. 19), and again: “I have prayed for you that your faith fail not — confirm your brethren,” (Luke xxii. 32), and again: “Feed my lambs; feed my sheep” (Luke xxi. 15, 17).

Protestantism saw the force of this argument and therefore strove to throw doubts on Saint Peter having lived and died in Rome. They who laboured to establish doubts of this kind rightly hoped that if they could gain their point, they would destroy the authority of the Roman Pontiff and even the very notion of a Head of the Church. But History has refuted this puerile objection and now all learned Protestants agree with Catholics in admitting a fact which is one of the most incontestable, even on the ground of human authority.

It was in order to nullify, by the authority of the Liturgy, this strange pretension of Protestants that Pope Paul IV in 1558 restored the ancient Feast of Saint Peter’s Chair at Rome, and fixed it on the 18th of January. For many centuries the Church had not solemnised the mystery of the Pontificate of the Prince of the Apostles on any distinct feast, but had made the single Feast of February 22nd serve for both the Chair at Antioch and the Chair at Rome.

Today, therefore, the kingship of our Emmanuel shines forth in all its splendour, and the children of the Church rejoice in finding themselves to be brethren and fellow-citizens, united in the Feast of their common capital, the Holy City of Rome. When they look around them and find so many sects separated from each other, and almost forced into decay because they have no centre of union — they give thanks to the Son of God for His having provided for the preservation of His Church and Truth by His instituting a visible Head who never dies, and in whom Peter is for ever continued, just as Christ Himself is continued in Peter. Men are no longer sheep without a Shepherd. The word, spoken at the beginning, is uninterruptedly perpetuated through all ages. The primitive mission is never suspended and, by the Roman Pontiff the end of time is fastened on to the world’s commencement.

“What a consolation for the children of God!” cries out Bossuet in his Essay on Universal History, “and what conviction that they are in possession of the truth when they see that from Innocent XI who now (1681) so worthily occupies the first See of the Church, we go back in unbroken succession even to Saint Peter whom Jesus appointed Prince of the Apostles. That from Saint Peter we come, traversing the line of the Pontiffs who ministered under the Law, even to Aaron, yea, even to Moses. Thence even to the Patriarchs, and even to the beginning of the world!”

When Peter enters Rome, therefore, he comes to realise and explain the destinies of this Queen of Cities. He comes to promise her an Empire even greater than the one she possesses. This new Empire is not to be founded by the sword, as was the first. Rome has been, hitherto, the proud mistress of nations. Henceforth she is to be the Mother of the world by charity, and though all peaceful, yet her Empire will last to the end of time. Let us listen to Saint Leo the Great describing to us, in one of the finest of his Sermons and in his own magnificent style, the humble yet all-eventful entrance of the Fisherman of Genesareth into the capital of the pagan world:

“The good, and just, and omnipotent God who never refused His mercy to the human race and instructed all men, in general, in the knowledge of Himself by His super-abundant benefits —took pity, " by a more hidden counsel and a deeper love, on the voluntary blindness of them that had gone astray, and on the wickedness which was growing in its proneness to evil, and sent, therefore, into the world His co-equal and co-eternal Word. The which Word being made Flesh did so unite the divine to the human nature, as that the deep debasement of the one was the highest uplifting of the other. But that the effect of this unspeakable gift might be diffused throughout the entire world, the providence of God had been preparing the Roman Empire, which had so far extended its limits, as to embrace in itself all the nations of the earth. For nothing could be better suited to the divine plan than the confederation of various kingdoms under one and the same Empire, and the preaching of the Gospel to the whole world would the more rapidly be effected by having the several nations united under the government of one common city. But this city, ignoring the author of this her promotion, while mistress of almost every nation under the sun, was the slave of every nation’s errors and prided himself on having got a grand religion because she had admitted every false doctrine. So that the faster the devil’s hold of her, the more admirable her deliverance by Christ. For, when the twelve Apostles after receiving by the Holy Ghost the gift of tongues divided among themselves the world they had to evangelise, the most blessed Peter, the Prince of the Apostolic order, was sent to the capital of the Roman Empire in order that the light of truth, which had been revealed for the salvation of all nations, might the more effectively flow from the head itself into the whole body of the world. The fact was that there were in this city people belonging to every nation, and the rest of the world soon learnt whatever was taught at Rome. Here, therefore, were to be refuted the opinions of philosophy. Here, the follies of human wisdom to be exploded. Here, the worship of devils to be convicted of blasphemy. Here, the impiety of all the sacrifices to be first abolished. For it was here that an official superstition had systematised into one great whole the fragmentary errors of every other portion of the Earth.

To this city, therefore, O most blessed Apostle, Peter, you fear not to come! The companion of your glory, Paul the Apostle, is not with you, for he is busy founding other Churches. Yet, you enter this forest of wild beasts and, with greater courage than when walking on the waters, you set foot on this deep stormy sea! You that trembled before a servant girl in the house of Caiphas, are fearless now before this Rome, this mistress of the world. Is it that the power of Claudius is less than the authority of Pilate? Or the cruelty of Nero less than the savageness of the Jews? Not so, but the vehemence of your love made you heedless of your risks, and having come that you might love, you forgot to fear. You imbibed this sentiment of fearless charity on that day when the profession of your love for your Master was made perfect by the mystery of His thrice put question. And what asks He of you after thus probing your heart, but that you feed the sheep of Him you love, with the food on which yourself had feasted? Then, too, there were the miracles you had wrought, the gifts of grace you had received, the proofs of the great works you had achieved — all giving you fresh courage. You had taught the truth to such of the children of Israel as had embraced the faith. You had founded the Church of Antioch where first began the glorious Christian title. You had preached the gospel in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, and assured of the success of your work and of the many years you had yet to live, you brought the trophy of the Cross of Christ into the very walls of Rome where the counsels of God had already determined that you should have both the honour of power, and the glory of martyrdom.”

The future of the human race, now under the guidance of the Church, is therefore centred in Rome, and the destinies of that city are interwoven with those of her undying Pontiff. We, the children of the Church, though differing in race, and tongue, and character, yet are we all Romans by holy religion. As Romans, we are united by Peter to Christ, and this our glorious name is the link of that great fraternity of Catholics throughout the world. Jesus Christ by Peter, and Peter by his successor — these are our rulers in the order of spiritual Government. Every Pastor whose authority emanates not from the See of Rome is a stranger to us and an intruder. So likewise, in the order of our Faith, that is, of what we believe, Jesus Christ by Peter, and Peter by his successor, teach us divine doctrine and how to distinguish truth from error.

Every Symbol of Faith, every doctrinal judgement, every teaching, contrary to the Symbol, and judgements, and teachings of the See of Rome, is of man, and not of God, and must be rejected, hated and anathematised.

Today we will consider and honour the Chair at Rome as the source and rule of our Faith. Here, again, let us borrow the sublime words of Saint Leo and hear him discuss the claims of Peter to Infallibility of teaching. The Holy Doctor will teach us how to understand the full force of those words which were spoken by our Lord, and which He intended should be, for all ages, the grand charter of Faith.

“The word made Flesh was dwelling among us, and He, our Saviour, had spent His whole self for the reparation of the human race. There was nothing too complicated for His wisdom, nothing too difficult for His power. The elements were subject to Him. Spirits ministered to Him. Angels obeyed Him, nor could the mystery of human Redemption be ineffectual, for God, both in His Unity and Trinity, was the worker of that mystery. And yet, Peter is chosen from the rest of the entire world to be the one, the only one, put over the vocation of all nations, and over all the Apostles, and over all the Fathers of the Church: that so, while there were to be many Priests and many Pastors in the people of God, Peter should govern, by the special power given to him, all those whom Christ also rules by His own supreme power. Great and wonderful, dearly Beloved, is this fellowship with Christ’s power granted, by divine condescension, to this man! Moreover, if our Lord willed that there should be something in common to Peter and the rest of the Princes of his Church, it was only on this condition — that whatever He gave to the rest, He gave it to them through Peter.

Again: our Lord questions all the Apostles as to what men say of Him, and as far as the telling Him the opinions of human ignorance goes, they all, indifferently, join in making answer. But as soon as the sentiment of the disciples themselves is called for, he is the first to confess our Lord’s divinity, who is the first in dignity among the Apostles. These were his words: “You are Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew xvi. 16), which when he had said, our Lord thus answered him: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in Heaven” (Matthew xvi. 17) that is, blessed are you in that my Father has taught you, and human opinion has not misled you, but heavenly inspiration has instructed you. Not flesh and blood, but He whose Only Begotten Son I am, has shown me to you. And I say to you: that is, as my Father has manifested to you my divinity, so do I now declare to you your own dignity. That you are Peter (the Rock): that is, though I am the immoveable Rock (1 Corinthians x. 4), the Corner-Stone (Ephesians ii. 20) who make both one (Ephesians ii. 14) and the Foundation, other than which no man can lay (1 Corinthians iii. 11), yet are you also a Rock, because you are solidly based by my power, and what I have by right, you have by participation. And upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it (Matthew xvi. 18), that is, I will construct an everlasting temple upon your strength, and my Church, which is to reach to Heaven, will grow up on the firmness of this your faith.

On the eve of His Passion which was to test the courage of His disciples, our Lord said to Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has desired to have you, that he sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. And you, being once converted, confirm your brethren” (Luke xxii. 31, 32). All the Apostles were in danger of being tempted to fear, and all stood in need of the divine help, for the devil desired to sift and crush them all. And yet, it is especially for Peter that our Lord is careful. It is for Peter’s faith that He offers an express prayer, as though the others would be sure to be firm if the mind of their leader were unflinching. So that, the strength of all the rest is in Peter, and the assistance of divine grace is distributed in this order — Peter is to receive firmness through Christ, and he himself then give it to the Apostles.”

In another of his Sermons the same holy Doctor explains to us how it is that Peter ever lives and ever teaches in the Chair of Rome. After having cited the passage from the sixteenth chapter of Saint Matthew, (verses 16-19) he says:

“This promise, of Him who is truth itself, must, therefore, be a permanent fact — and Peter, the unceasing Rock of strength, must be the ceaseless ruler of the Church. For we have only to consider the pre-eminence that is given him, and the mysterious titles conferred on him, and we at once see the fellowship he has with our Lord Jesus Christ: he is called the Rock (Peter). He is named the Foundation. He is appointed keeper of the gates of Heaven. He is made judge, with such power of loosing and binding that his sentence holds even in Heaven. These commissions, and duties, and responsibilities with which with he was invested, he discharges with fuller perfection and power, now that he is in Him and with Him, from whom he received all these honours. If, therefore, we do anything that is right, if we decree anything that is right, if, by our daily supplications, we obtain anything from the divine mercy — it is his doing and his merit, whose power lives, and whose authority is supreme, in this his own Chair. All this, dearly Beloved, was obtained by that confession which, being inspired into the Apostle’s heart by God the Father, soared above all the incertitudes of human opinions and drew upon him who spoke it the solidity of a Rock that was to be proof against every attack. For, throughout the whole Church, Peter is every day still proclaiming: Thou are Christ, the Son of the living God. And every tongue that confesses the Lord is guided by the teaching of this word. This is the faith which conquers the devil and sets his captives free. This is the faith which delivers men from the world and takes them to Heaven, and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it. For such is the solidity with which God has strengthened it that neither heretical depravity has been able to corrupt, nor pagan perfidy to crush, it.”

Thus speaks Saint Leo. “Let it not, therefore, be said,” observes Bossuet, in his Sermon on the Unity of the Church, “let it not be said or thought that this ministry of Peter finishes with his life on Earth. That which is given as the support of a Church which is to last forever, can never be taken away. Peter will live in his successors. Peter will speak in his Chair to the end of time. So speak the Fathers. So speak the six hundred and thirty Bishops of the Council of Chalcedon.” And again: “Thus the Roman Church is ever a Virgin-Church. The Faith of Rome is always the Faith of the Church. What has once been believed will be forever believed. The same voice is heard all over the world, and Peter, in his successors, is now, as he was during his life, the foundation on which the faithful rest. Jesus Christ has said that it will be so, and Heaven and Earth will pass away rather than His word.”

Full of gratitude, therefore, to the God of truth who has vouchsafed to raise up this Chair in His Church, we will listen, with submission of intellect and heart, to the teaching which emanates from it. Rejecting with indignation those dangerous theories which can only serve to keep up sects within the Church, and confessing with all the past ages that the promises made to it. Peter continue in his successors — we will conclude, aided by the twofold light of logic and history, that the teachings, addressed to the Church by the Roman Pontiff, can never contain error and can contain nothing but the doctrine of truth. Such has always been the sense of the Church, and her practice has been the expression of her spirit. Now if we acknowledge a permanent miracle in the uninterrupted succession of the Bishops of Rome in spite of all the revolutions of [twenty] centuries — we acknowledge it to be a still higher prodigy that, notwithstanding the instability of man’s opinions and judgements, the Chair of Rome has faithfully preserved the truth without the slightest admixture of error, whereas the sees of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Constantinople, were scarcely able to maintain the true Faith for few centuries, and have become, so frequently, those Chairs of pestilence spoken of by the Royal Prophet (Psalm i. 1).

We are in that season of the Ecclesiastical Year which is devoted to honouring the Incarnation and Birth of the Son of God, and the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin: it behoves us to remember, especially on this present Feast, that it is to the See of Peter that we owe the preservation of these dogmas which are the very basis of our holy religion. Rome not only taught them to us when she sent us the saintly missionaries who evangelised our country but, moreover, when heresy attempted to throw its mists and clouds over these high Mysteries, it was Rome that secured the triumph to truth by her sovereign decision. At Ephesus — when Nestorius was condemned and the dogma which he assailed was solemnly proclaimed, that is, that the Divine Nature and the Human Nature which are in Christ make but one Person, and that Mary is consequently, the true Mother of God — the two hundred Fathers of that General Council thus spoke: “Compelled by the Letters of our Most Holy Father Celestine, Bishop of the Roman Church, we have proceeded, in spite of our tears, to the condemnation of Nestorius.” At Chalcedon — where the Church had to proclaim, against Eutyches, the distinction of the two Natures in the Incarnate Word, God and Man — the six hundred and thirty Fathers, after hearing the Letter of the Roman Pontiff, gave their decision and said: “Peter has spoken by the mouth of Leo.”

*****

We are founded on Christ in our faith and our hopes, because O glorious Prince of the Apostles, we are founded on you, who are the Rock He has set. We are the sheep of the flock of Jesus because we obey you as our shepherd. By following you, O Peter, we are made sure of our being admitted into the kingdom of Heaven, because our Lord gave the keys of His kingdom to you. Having the happiness of being your members, we may also count ourselves as the members of Jesus Christ Himself, for He, the invisible Head of the Church, recognises none as His members save those that are members of the visible Head whom He appointed. So, too, when we adhere to the faith of the Roman Pontiff and obey his orders, we are professing your faith, Peter. We are following your commands, for if Christ teaches and governs by you, you teach and govern by the Roman Pontiff.

Eternal thanks, then, to our Emmanuel for that He has not left us orphans but before returning to Heaven vouchsafed to provide us with a Father and a Shepherd even to the end of time! On the evening before His passion, keeping up His love for us even to the end, He left us His sacred Body and Blood for our food. After His glorious Resurrection, and a few hours before ascending to the right hand of His Father, He called His Apostles around Him, and constituted His Church (His Fold) and said to Peter: “Feed my Lambs, Feed my Sheep” (John xxi. 15, 17). Thus, dear Jesus, did you secure perpetuity to your Church. You gave her unity, for that alone could preserve her and defend her from both external and internal enemies. Glory be to you, O Divine Architect, for that you built the House of your Church on the Rock which was never to be shaken, that is, on Peter! Winds and storms and waves have beat upon that House, but it has stood, for it was built on a Rock (Matthew vii. 25).

O Rome, on this day when the whole Church proclaims your glory by blessing God for having built her on your Rock, receive the renewal of our promise to love you and be faithful to you. You will ever be our Mother and our Mistress, our guide and our hope. Your faith will ever be ours, for he that is not with you is not with Jesus Christ. In you all men are brethren. You are not a foreign city to us, nor is your Pontiff a foreign Sovereign to us, for he is our Father. It is by you that we live the spiritual life, the life of both heart and intellect, and you it is that prepares us to dwell one day in that other city of which you are the image —the city of Heaven into which men enter by you. Bless, O Prince of the Apostles, the flock committed to your care, but forget not them that have unfortunately left the fold. There are whole nations whom you brought up and civilised by the hands of your successors who now have alienated themselves from you and are living on their wretched existence, the more miserable because they feel not the unhappiness of being separated from the Shepherd. They are victims either of schism, or of heresy. Without Christ made visible in His Vicar, Christianity becomes sterile and at last extinct. Those indiscreet doctrines, which tend to throw a doubt on the richness of the prerogatives bestowed by Christ on you, that is, on you who was to hold his place to the end of time — such doctrines produce a cold heart in those who profess them and dispose them, but too frequently, to give to Caesar that spiritual and religious obedience which they owe, yet refuse, to Peter. O supreme Pastor, cure all these evils. Hasten the return of the nations that have separated themselves from you. Let the heresy of the sixteenth century soon become a thing of the past. Open your arms, and again press to your heart the country once so dear to you —England — and pray for her that she may regain her right to be called the beautiful “Island of Saints.” Stir up the people of our northern Europe to redouble their ardour in the search of the Faith of their Fathers, and let them learn the great truth that a religion out of union with the Chair at Rome is powerless to give salvation to its members. Reclaim the East to her ancient fidelity, and let her Patriarchal Sees regain their dignity by submission to the one Apostolic See.

And we, Blessed Apostle, who, by the mercy of God, and the watchfulness of your paternal love, are still faithful, preserve us in the faith of Rome and submission to your successor. Instruct us in the mysteries which have been confided to your teaching. What the Father revealed to you, you reveal to us: show us our Jesus, your beloved Master, Lead us to His crib and let us, after your own example, be blessed by not being scandalised at His deep humiliations, and by ever saying your beautiful confession: “You are Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew xvi. 16).

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Hierapolis in Phrygia, blessed Papias, bishop of that city, who had been, with St. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John in his old age.

At Salamis in Cyprus, St. Aristion, who the same Papias says was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ.

In Arabia, the commemoration of many holy martyrs who were barbarously put to death under the emperor Galerius Maximian.

At Alexandria, St. Abilius, bishop, who was the second pastor of that city after St. Mark and administered his charge with eminent piety.

At Vienna, St. Paschasius, bishop, celebrated for his learning and holy life.

At Cortona in Tuscany, St. Margaret, of the Third Order of St. Francis, whose body miraculously remained uncorrupt for more than four centuries, giving forth a sweet odour and producing frequent miracles. It is honoured in that place with great devotion.

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

Thanks be to God.

22 FEBRUARY – FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This Sunday, the first of the six which come during Lent, is one of the most solemn throughout the year. It has the same privilege as Passion and Palm Sundays ― that is, it never gives place to any Feast, not even to that of the Patron, Titular Saint, or Dedication of the Church. In the ancient Calendars it is called Invocabit from the first word of the Introit of the Mass. In the Middle Ages it was called Brand Sunday because the young people who had misconducted themselves during the carnival, were obliged to show themselves today at the Church with a torch in their hands as a kind of public satisfaction for their riot and excess.

Lent solemnly opens today. We have already noticed, that the four preceding days were added since the time of Saint Gregory the Great, in order to make up Forty days of fasting. Neither can we look on Ash Wednesday as the solemn opening of the Season, for the Faithful are not bound to hear Mass on that day. The Holy Church, seeing her children now assembled together, speaks to them, in her Office of Matins, these eloquent and noble words of Saint Leo the Great:

“Having to announce to you, dearly beloved, the most sacred and chief Fast, how can I more appropriately begin, than with the words of the Apostle, (in whom Christ himself spoke,) and by saying to you what has just been read: Behold! now is the acceptable time; behold! now is the day of salvation. For although there be no time, which is not replete with divine gifts, and we may always, by God’s grace, have access to His mercy — yet ought we all to redouble our efforts to make spiritual progress and be animated with unusual confidence, now that the anniversary of the day of our Redemption is approaching, inviting us to devote ourselves to every good work, that so we may celebrate, with purity of body and mind, the incomparable Mystery of our Lord’s Passion.

It is true, that our devotion and reverence towards so great a Mystery should be kept up during the whole year, and we ourselves be, at all times, in the eyes of God, the same as we are bound to be at the Easter Solemnity. But this is an effort which only few among us have the courage to sustain. The weakness of the flesh induces us to relent our austerities; the various occupations of everyday life take up our thoughts; and thus, even the virtuous find their hearts clogged by this world’s dust. Hence it is that our Lord has most providentially given us these Forty Days, whose holy exercises should be to us a remedy by which to regain our purity of soul. The good works and the holy fastings of this Season were instituted as an atonement and obliteration of the sins we commit during the rest of the Year.

Now, therefore, that we are about to enter on these days, which are so full of mystery and were instituted for the holy purpose of purifying both our soul and body, let us, dearly beloved, be careful to do as the Apostle bids us, and cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and the spirit: that thus the combat between the two substances being made less fierce, the soul, which, when she herself is subject to God, ought to be the ruler of the body, will recover her own dignity and position. Let us also avoid giving offence to any man, so that there be none to blame or speak evil things of us. For we deserve the harsh remarks of infidels, and we provoke the tongues of the wicked to blaspheme religion, when we, who fast, lead unholy lives. For our Fast does not consist in the mere abstaining from food; nor is it of much use to deny food to our body, unless we restrain the soul from sin.” Saint Leo the Great (Fourth Sermon for Lent)

Epistle – 2 Corinthians vi. 1‒10

Brethren, we exhort you that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For He said, “In an accepted time have I heard you, and in the day of salvation have I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Giving no offence to any man, that our ministry be not blamed: but in all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labours, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Ghost, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God: by the armour of justice on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastised, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

These words of the Apostle give us a very different idea of the Christian Life from that which our own tepidity suggests. We dare not say that he is wrong, and we right; but we put a strange interpretation on his words, and we tell both ourselves and those around us, that the advice he here gives is not to be taken literally nowadays, and that it was written for those special difficulties of the first age of the Church when the Faithful stood in need of unusual detachment and almost heroism because they were always in danger of persecution and death. The interpretation is full of that discretion which meets with the applause of our cowardice, and it easily persuades us to be at rest, just as though we had no dangers to fear, and no battle to fight; whereas, we have both: for there is the devil, the world, flesh and blood. The Church never forgets it; and hence, at the opening of this great Season, she sends us into the desert, that there we may learn from our Jesus how we are to fight. Let us go; let us learn, from the Temptations of our Divine Master, that the life of man upon earth is a warfare, (Job vii.1) and that, unless our fighting be truceless and brave, our life, which we would fain pass in peace, will witness our defeat. That such a misfortune may not befall us, the Church cries out to us, in the words of St. Paul: Behold! now is the acceptable time. Behold! Now is the day of salvation. Let us, in all thing comport ourselves as the servants of God, and keep our ground unflinchingly to the end of our holy campaign. God is watching over us, as He did over His Beloved Son in the desert.

Gospel – Matthew iv. 1‒11

At that time, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry. And the tempter coming, said to Him, “If you are the Son of God command that these stones be made bread.” Who answered and said, “It is written, Not in bread alone does man live; but in every word that proceeds from the mouth Of God.” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down: for it is written, That He has given His Angels charge over you, and in their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, You must not tempt the Lord your God.” Again the devil took Him up into a very high mountain; and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and said to Him, “All these will I give you, if, falling down, you will adore me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan, for it is written, The Lord your God will you adore, and Him only will you serve.” Then the devil left Him; and behold, Angels came, and ministered to Him.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Each Sunday of Lent offers to our consideration a passage from the Gospel, which is in keeping with the sentiments wherewith the Church would have us be filled. Today she brings before us the Temptation of our Lord in the Desert. What light and encouragement there is for us in this instruction!

We acknowledge ourselves to be sinners; we are engaged, at this very time, in doing penance for the sins we have committed; — but, how was it that we fell into sin? The devil tempted us; we did not reject the temptation; then, we yielded to the suggestion, and the sin was committed. This is the history of our past; and such it would, also, be for the future, were we not to profit by the lesson given us, today, by our Redeemer.

When the Apostle speaks of the wonderful mercy shown us by our Divine Saviour, who vouchsafed to make Himself like us in all things, save in sin, he justly lays stress on His temptation (Hebrews iv. 15). He, who was very God, humbled Himself even so low as this, to prove how tenderly He compassionated us. Here, then, we have the Saint of Saints allowing the wicked spirit to approach Him, in order that we might learn, from His example, how we are to gain victory under temptation.

Satan has had his eye on Jesus; he is troubled at beholding such matchless virtue. The wonderful circumstances of His Birth — the Shepherds called by Angels to His Crib, and the Magi guided by the Star; the Infant’s escape from Herod’s plot; the testimony rendered to this new Prophet by John the Baptist — all these things which seem so out of keeping with the thirty years spent in obscurity at Nazareth, are a mystery to the infernal serpent, and fill him with apprehension. The ineffable mystery of the Incarnation has been accomplished unknown to him; he never once suspects that the humble Virgin, Mary, is she who was foretold by the Prophet Isaias, as having to bring forth the Emmanuel (Isias vii. 14) but he is aware that the time is come, that the last Week spoken of to Daniel has begun its course, and that the very Pagans are looking towards Judea for a Deliverer. He is afraid of this Jesus; he resolves to speak with Him, and elicit from Him some expression which will show him whether He be or not the Son of God; he will tempt Him to some imperfection or sin which, should He commit, will prove that the object of so much fear is, after all, but a mortal Man.

The enemy of God and men was, of course, disappointed. He approached Jesus; but all his efforts only turn to his own confusion. Our Redeemer, with all the self-possession and easy majesty of a God-Man, repels the attacks of Satan; but He reveals not his heavenly origin. The wicked spirit retires, without having made any discovery beyond this — that Jesus is a prophet, faithful to God. Later on, when he sees the Son of God treated with contempt, calumniated and persecuted; when he finds, that his own attempts to have Him put to death, are so successful; — his pride and his blindness will be at their height: and not till Jesus expires on the Cross, will he learn, that his victim was not merely Man, but Man and God. Then will he discover, how all his plots against Jesus have but served to manifest, in all their beauty, the Mercy and Justice of God; — His Mercy, because He saved mankind: and His Justice, because He broke the power of Hell forever.

These were the designs of Divine Providence in permitting the wicked spirit to defile, by his presence, the retreat of Jesus, and speak to Him, and lay his hands on Him. But, let us attentively consider the triple temptation in all its circumstances; for our Redeemer only suffered it, in order that He might instruct and encourage us.

We have three enemies to fight against; our soul has three dangers; for, as the Beloved Disciple says: All that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life! (1 John ii. 16). By the concupiscence of the flesh, is meant the love of sensual things, which covets whatever is agreeable to the flesh, and, when not curbed, draws the soul into unlawful pleasures. Concupiscence of the eyes expresses the love of the goods of this world, such as riches, and possessions; these dazzle the eye, and then seduce the heart. Pride of life is that confidence in ourselves, which leads us to be vain and presumptuous, and makes us forget that all we have — our life and every good gift, we have from God.

Not one of our sins but what comes from one of these three sources; not one of our temptations but what aims at making us accept the concupiscence of the flesh, or the concupiscence of the eyes, or the pride of life. Our Saviour, then, who would be our model in all things, deigned to subject Himself to these three temptations.

First of all, Satan tempts Him in what regards the flesh — he suggests to Him to satisfy the cravings of hunger by working a miracle and changing the stones into bread. If Jesus consents and show an eagerness in giving this indulgence to His body, the tempter will conclude that He is but a frail mortal, subject to concupiscence like other men. When he tempts us, who have inherited evil concupiscence from Adam, his suggestions go further than this; he endeavours to defile the soul by the body. But the sovereign holiness of the Incarnate Word could never permit Satan to use on Him the power which he has received of tempting man in his outward senses. The lesson, therefore, which the Son of God here gives us, is one of temperance: but we know, that, for us, temperance is the mother of purity, and that intemperance excites our senses to rebel.

The second temptation is to pride; Cast thyself down; the Angels shall bear thee up in their hands. The enemy is anxious to see if the favours of heaven have produced in Jesus’ soul that haughtiness, that ungrateful self-confidence, which makes the creature arrogate God’s gifts to itself, and forget its benefactor. Here, also, he is foiled; our Redeemer’s humility confounds the pride of the rebel angel.

He then makes a last effort: he hopes to gain over by ambition Him who has given such proofs of temperance and humility. He shows Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and says to Him: All these will I give thee, if falling down, thou wilt adore me. Jesus rejects the wretched offer and drives from Him the seducer, the prince of this world; (John xiv. 30) hereby teaching us, that we must despise the riches of this world, as often as our keeping or getting them is to be on the condition of our violating the law of God and paying homage to Satan.

21 FEBRUARY – SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

Lesson – Isaias lviii. 9‒14

Thus say the Lord God: “If you will take away the chain out of the midst of you, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which is good for nothing. When you will pour out your soul to the hungry, and will satisfy the afflicted soul, then will your light rise up in darkness, and your darkness will be as the noonday. And the Lord will give you rest continually, and will fill your soul with brightness, and deliver your bones, and you will be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water, whose waters will not fail. And the places that have been desolate for ages will be built in you: you will raise up the foundations of generation and generation: and you will be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your own will in my holy day, and call the Sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify Him, while you do not your own ways, and your own will is not found, to speak a word: then will you be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift you up above the high places of the Earth, and will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your Father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Saturday is a day replete with mystery. It is the day of God’s rest. It is a figure of the eternal peace which awaits us in Heaven after the toils of this life are over. The object of the Church in giving us today this Lesson from Isaias is to teach us how we are to merit our eternal Sabbath. We have scarcely entered on our campaign of penance when this affectionate Mother of ours comes to console us. If we abound in good works during this holy Season in which we have taken leave of the distracting vanities of the world, the light of grace will rise up even in the darkness which now clouds our soul. This soul, which has been so long obscured by sin and by the love of the world and self, will become bright as the noonday. The glory of Jesus’ Resurrection will be ours too and, if we are faithful to grace, the Easter of time will lead us to the Easter of eternity. Let us, therefore, build up the places that have been so long desolate. Let us raise up the foundations, repair the fences, turn away our feet from the violation of holy observances, do not our own ways and our own will in opposition to those of our Divine Master, and then He will give us everlasting rest, and fill our soul with His own brightness.

Gospel – Mark vi. 47‒56

At that time, when it was late, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and Jesus was alone on the land. And seeing them labouring in rowing (for the wind was against them) and about the fourth watch of the night, He comes to them, walking upon the sea, and He would have passed by them. But they seeing Him walking upon the sea, thought it was an apparition and they cried out. For they all saw Him and were troubled. And immediately He spoke with them, and said to them: “Have a good heart, it is I, fear not.” And He went up to them into the ship, and the wind ceased. And they were far more astonished within themselves: for they understood not concerning the loaves: for their heart was blinded. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Genesareth, and set to the shore. And when they were gone out of the ship, immediately they knew Him, and running through that whole country, they began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard He was. And wherever He entered, into towns, or into villages, or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Ship, the Church, has set sail. The voyage is to last Forty Days. The disciples labour in rowing, for the wind is against them. They begin to fear lest they may not be able to gain the port. But Jesus comes to them on the sea. He goes up to them in the ship. The rest of the voyage is most prosperous. The ancient Liturgists thus explain the Church’s intention in her choice of today’s Gospel. Forty Days of penance are, it is true, little enough for a long life that has been spent in everything save in God’s service. And yet our cowardice would sink under these Forty Days unless we had Jesus with us. Let us not fear. It is He. He prays with us, fasts with us and does all our works of mercy with us. Was it not He that first began these Forty Days of expiation? Let us keep our eyes fixed on Him and be of good heart. If we grow tired, let us go to Him, as did the poor sick ones of whom our Gospel speaks. The very touch of His garments sufficed to restore health to such as had lost it. Let us go to Him in His adorable Sacrament, and the divine life whose germ is already within us will develop itself, and the energy, which was beginning to droop in our hearts, will regain all its vigour.

20 FEBRUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Tyre in Phoenicia, the commemoration of many blessed martyrs whose number is known to God alone. Under the emperor Diocletian they were put to death after a long and varied series of torments by the military commander Veturius. They were first lacerated with whips, and then delivered to several kinds of beasts. But, through the interposition of Providence, remaining unhurt, they consummated their martyrdom by the torment of fire and by the sword. This glorious multitude were incited to victory by the bishops Tyrannic, Silvanus, Peleus and Nilus, and the priest Zenobius, who, together with them, won the palm of martyrdom by a successful combat.

On the island of Cyprus, the holy martyrs Pothamius and Nemesius.

At Constantinople, St. Eleutherius, bishop and martyr.

In Persia, in the time of king Sapor, the birthday of St. Sadoth, bishop, and one hundred and twenty-eight others, who refused to adore the sun, and by a cruel death purchased for themselves bright crowns.

At Catania in Sicily, St. Leo, bishop, illustrious for virtues and miracles.

The same day, St. Eucherius, bishop of Orleans, whose miracles increased in proportion to the slanders of the envious.

At Tournai in Belgium, St. Eleutherius, bishop and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

20 FEBRUARY – FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

Lesson – Isaias lviii. 1‒9

Thus says the Lord God: “Cry, cease not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins. For they seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a nation that has done justice and has not forsaken the judgement of their God. They ask of me the judgements of justice: they are willing to approach to God. Why have we fasted, and you have not regarded: why have we humbled our souls, and you have not taken notice? Behold, in the day of your fast, your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors. Behold you fast for debates and strife, and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard on high. Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a clay? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden. Deal your bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into your house. When you will see one naked, cover him, and despise not your own flesh. Then will your light break forth as the morning, and your health will speedily arise, and your justice will go before your face, and the glory of the Lord will gather you up. Then will you call, and the Lord will hear: you will cry, and he will say: Here I am, for I the Lord your God am merciful.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

We are told in this Lesson from the Prophet Isaias what are the dispositions which should accompany our fast. It is God Himself who here speaks to us — that God who had Himself commanded His people to fast. He tells us that the fasting from material food is a mere nothing in His eyes unless they who practise it abstain also from sin. He demands the sacrifice of the body, but it is not acceptable to Him unless that of the soul goes along with it. The living God can never consent to be treated as were the senseless gods of wood and stone which the Gentiles adored, and which were incapable of receiving any other than a mere external homage. Let, then, the heretic cease to find fault with the Church for her observance of practices which he pretends to scorn as being material. It is he that grows material by his system of letting the body have every indulgence. The Children of the Church fast because fasting is recommended in almost every page of both the Old and New Testament, and because Jesus Christ Himself fasted for forty days. But they are fully aware that this practice, which is thus recommended and urged, is then alone meritorious when it is ennobled and completed by the homage of a heart that is resolved to reform its vicious inclinations. And after all, it would be an injustice if the body, which has been led into guilt solely through the malice of the soul, were to be made to suffer and the soul herself be allowed to continue in her sinful course. Hence it is that they whose ill-health prevents them from observing the bodily austerities of Lent are equally bound to impose on their soul that spiritual fast which consists in the amendment of their life, in the avoiding everything that is sinful and in the zealous performance of every good work in their power.

Gospel – Matthew v. 46‒48 vi. 1‒6

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: “You have heard that it has been said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you, that you may be the children of your Father who is in Heaven, who makes His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward will you have? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you do more? Do not also the heathens the same? Be therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect. Take heed that you do not your justice before men to be seen by them: otherwise you will not have a reward of your Father who is in Heaven. Therefore, when you do an alms-deed, sound not a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does, that your alms may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret, will repay you.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Alms-deeds is the third of the great penitential works: it is the sister-virtue of Prayer and Fasting. For this reason the Church puts before us today the instructions given by our Saviour on the manner in which we ought to do works of mercy. He puts upon us the duty of loving our fellow-men without distinction of friends or enemies. God, who has created them all, loves them Himself. This is motive enough to make us show mercy to all. If He bears with them, even when they are His enemies by sin, and patiently waits for their conversion even to the end of their lives, so that they who are lost, are lost through their own fault — what ought not we to do, we who are sinners as they are, and their brethren, and created, like them, out of nothing? When, therefore, we do an act of kindness or mercy towards those who have God for their Father, we offer Him a most acceptable homage. Charity, the queen of virtues, absolutely requires of us the love of our neighbour as being part of our love of God. And this Charity, at the same time that it is a sacred obligation incumbent upon each member of the family of mankind is, in the acts it inspires us to do towards each other, a work of penance because it imposes upon us certain privations, and requires us to overcome every repugnance which nature stirs up within us when we have to show this Charity to certain individuals. And finally, we must, in our Alms-deeds, follow the counsel our Blessed Saviour gives us. It is the one He recommended to us when He bade us fast: we must do it in secret, and shun ostentation. Penance loves humility and silence. It has a dread of being noticed by men. The only one whose applause it seeks is His who sees in secret.

19 FEBRUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the birthday of St. Gabinus, priest and martyr, brother of the blessed Pope Caius. Being loaded with chains and kept a long time in prison by Diocletian, he obtained the joys of heaven by a precious death.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Publius, Julian, Marcellus and others.

In Palestine, the commemoration of the holy monks and other martyrs, who were barbarously massacred for the faith of Christ by the Saracens under their leader Almondhar.

At Jerusalem, St. Zambdas, bishop.

At Soli, St. Auxibius, bishop.

At Benevento, St. Barbatus, a bishop illustrious for sanctity, who converted the Lombards and their chief to the faith of Christ.

At Milan, St. Mansuetus, bishop and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

19 FEBRUARY – THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Although the law of the Fasting began yesterday, yet Lent (properly so called) does not begin till the Vespers of Saturday next. In order to distinguish the rest of Lent from these four days which have been added to it, the Church continues to chant Vespers at the usual hour, and allows her Ministers to break their fast before having said that Office. But, beginning with Saturday, the Vespers will be anticipated. Every day, (Sundays excepted, which always exclude Fasting) they will be said at such an early hour that when the Faithful take their full meal, the Evening Office will be over. It is a remnant of the discipline of the primitive Church which forbade the Faithful to break their Fast before sunset, in other words, before Vespers or Even-Song.

The Church has given to these three days after Ash-Wednesday a resemblance to the other Ferias of her Lenten Season, by assigning to each of them a Lesson from the Old Testament, and a Gospel, for Mass.

Lesson – Isaias xxxviii. 1‒6

In those days Ezechias was sick even unto death, and Isaias the son of Amos the Prophet came into him, and said to him: “Thus say the Lord: Take order with your house, for you will die, and not live.” And Ezechias turned his face towards the wall and prayed to the Lord, and said: “I beseech you, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” And Ezechias wept with great weeping. And the word of the Lord came to Isaias, saying: “Go and say to Ezechias: Thus says the Lord the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears: behold I will add to your days fifteen years: and I will deliver you and this city out of the hands of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it, says the Lord Almighty.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Yesterday the Church spoke to us upon the certainty of death. Die we must: we have not only God’s infallible word for it, but no reasonable man could ever entertain the thought that he was to be an exception to the rule. But if the fact of our death be certain, the day on which we are to die is also fixed. God, in His wisdom, has concealed the day from us. It becomes our duty not to be taken by surprise. This very night, it might be said to us, as it was to Ezechias: “Take order with your house, for you will die.” We ought to spend each day as though it were to be our last. Were God even to grant us, as He did to the holy King of Judah, a prolongation of life, we must come sooner or later to that last hour beyond which there is no time and eternity begins. The Church’s intention in thus reminding us of our mortality, is to put us on our guard against the allurements of this short life and urge us to earnestness in the great work of regeneration for which she has been preparing us during these last three weeks. How many there are of those who yesterday received the ashes, and who will never see the joys of Easter, at least in this world! To them the ceremony has been a prediction of what is to happen to them. perhaps before the month is out. And yet the very same words that were pronounced over them, were said to us. May not we ourselves be of the number of those who are thus soon to be victims of death? In this uncertainty let us gratefully accept the warning which our Jesus came down from Heaven to give us: “Do penance, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew iv. 17).

Gospel – Matthew viii. 5‒13

At that time when Jesus had entered into Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching Him, and saying: “Lord, my servant lies at home sick of the palsy, and is grievously tormented.” And Jesus said to him: “I will come and heal him.” And the centurion making answer, said: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having under me soldiers. And I say to this, Go, and he goes. And to another: Come, and he comes. And to my servant: Do this, and he does it.” And when Jesus heard this, He marvelled and said to them that followed Him: “Amen, I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. And I say to you, that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be cast out into the exterior darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion: “Go, and as you have believed, so be it done to you.” And the servant was healed at the same hour.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Sacred Scriptures, the Fathers and Theologians tell us that there are three eminent good works which are, at the same time, works of penance: Prayer, Fasting and Alms-deeds. In the Lessons she gives us on these three days, which form as it were, the threshold of Lent, the Church instructs us upon these works. Today it is Prayer she recommends to us. Look at this centurion who comes to our Saviour, beseeching Him to heal his servant. His prayer is humble. In all the sincerity of his heart, he deems himself unworthy to receive Jesus under his roof. His prayer is full of faith. He doubts not for an instant that Jesus is able to grant him what he asks. And with what ardour he prays! The faith of this Gentile is greater than that of the Children of Israel, and elicits praise from the Son of God. Such ought to be our prayer when we solicit the cure of our souls. Let us acknowledge that we are not worthy to speak to God, and yet let us have an unshaken confidence in the power and goodness of Him who only commands us to pray that He may pour out His mercies upon us. The Season we are now in is one of Prayer. The Church redoubles her supplications. It is for us that she makes them. We must take our share in them. Let us, during this Season of grace, cast off that languor which fastens on the soul at other times. Let us remember that it is Prayer which repairs the faults we have already committed, and preserves us from sin for the future.

18 FEBRUARY — ASH WEDNESDAY (Fasting and Abstinence)

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Yesterday the world was busy in its pleasures and the very children of God were taking a joyous farewell to mirth, but today all is changed. The solemn announcement spoken of by the Prophet has been proclaimed in Sion — the solemn Fast of Lent, the season of expiation, the approach of the great anniversaries of our Redemption. Let us then rouse ourselves and prepare for the spiritual combat.

But in this battling of the spirit against the flesh we need good armour. Our holy Mother the Church knows how much we need it and therefore does she summon us to enter into the House of God that she may arm us for the holy contest. What this armour is we know from Saint Paul who thus describes it: “Have your loins girt about with Truth, and having on the Breast-plate of Justice. And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things, taking the Shield of Faith. Take unto you the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians vi. 14-17).

The very Prince of the Apostles, too, addresses these solemn words to us: “Christ having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought” (1 Peter iv. 1).

We are entering today on a long campaign of the warfare spoken of by the Apostles — forty days of battle — forty days of penance. We will not turn cowards if our souls can but be impressed with the conviction that the battle and the penance must be gone through. Let us listen to the eloquence of the solemn rite which opens our Lent. Let us go where our Mother leads us — that is, to the scene of The Fall.

The enemies we have to fight with are of two kinds — internal and external — the first are our Passions; the second are the Devils. Both were brought on us by Pride, and man’s Pride began when he refused to obey his God. God forgave him his sin, but He punished him. The punishment was death, and this was the form of the Divine Sentence: “You are dust, and into dust you will return” (Genesis iii. 19).

O that we had remembered this! The recollection of what we are and what we are to be would have checked that haughty rebellion which has so often led us to break the law of God. And if, for the time to come, we would persevere in loyalty to Him — we must humble ourselves, accept the sentence and look on this present life as a path to the grave. The path may be long or short — but to the tomb it must lead us. Remembering this we will see all things in their true light. We will love that God who has deigned to set His heart on us, notwithstanding our being creatures of death: we will hate, with deepest contrition, the insolence and ingratitude with which we have spent so many of our few days of life, that is, in sinning against our Heavenly Father: and we will be not only willing but eager to go through these days of penance which He so mercifully gives us for making reparation to His offended Justice.

This was the motive the Church had in enriching her Liturgy with the solemn Rite at which we are to assist today. When, upwards of a thousand years ago, she decreed the anticipation of the Lenten Fast by the last four days of Quinquagesima Week — she instituted this impressive ceremony of signing the forehead of her children with ashes, while saying to them those awful words with which God sentenced us to death: Remember, Man, that thou art dust, and into dust thou shalt return! But the making use of ashes as a symbol of humiliation and penance is of a much earlier date than the institution we allude to. We find frequent mention of it in the Old Testament. Job, though a Gentile, sprinkled his flesh with ashes, that, thus humbled, he might propitiate the divine mercy (Job xvi. 16), and this was two thousand years before the coming of our Saviour. The Royal Prophet tells us of himself that he mingled ashes with his bread because of the divine anger and indignation (Psalms ci. 10). Many such examples are to be met with in the Sacred Scriptures; but so obvious is the analogy between the sinner, who thus signifies his grief, and the object, by which he signifies it, that we read such instances without the attention of surprise. When fallen man would humble himself before the Divine Justice which has sentenced his body to turn again into dust — how could he more aptly express his contrite acceptance of the sentence than by sprinkling himself, or his food, with ashes, which is the dust of wood consumed by fire? This earnest acknowledgement of his being himself but dust and ashes, is an act of humility, and humility ever gives him confidence in that God who resists the proud and pardons the humble.

It is probable that when this ceremony of the Wednesday in Quinquagesima Week was first instituted, it was not intended for all the Faithful, but only for such as had committed any of those crimes for which the Church inflicted a public penance; and these alone received the ashes. Before the Mass of the day began, they presented themselves at the church where the people were all assembled. The priests received the confession of their sins and then clothed them in sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads. After this ceremony the clergy and the faithful prostrated and recited aloud the Seven Penitential Psalms. A procession in which the Penitents walked bare-footed then followed; and on its return, the bishop addressed these words to the Penitents: “Behold, we drive you from the doors of the Church, by reason of your sins and crimes, as Adam, the first man, was driven out of Paradise because of his transgression.” The clergy then sang several Responsories taken from the Book of Genesis and in which mention was made of the sentence pronounced by God when He condemned man to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow, for that the earth was cursed on account of sin. The doors were then shut, and the penitents were not to pass the threshold until Maundy Thursday, when they were to come and receive absolution.

Dating from the eleventh century, the discipline of Public Penance began to fall into disuse, and the holy rite of putting ashes on the heads of all the faithful indiscriminately became so general that, at length, it was considered as forming an essential part of the Roman Liturgy. Formerly it was the practice to approach bare-footed to receive this solemn memento of our nothingness, and we find, that even so early as the twelfth century, the Pope himself, when passing from the Church of Saint Anastasia to that of Saint Sabina, at which the Station was held, went the whole distance bare-footed, as also did the cardinals who accompanied him. The Church no longer requires this exterior penance but she is as anxious as ever that the holy ceremony at which we are to assist should produce in us the sentiments she intended to convey by it when she first instituted it.

Lesson – Joel ii. 12‒19

Thus said the Lord, “Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God; for He is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil. Who knows but He will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind Him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God.” Blow the trumpet in Sion: sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather together the people, sanctify the Church; assemble the ancients; gather together the little ones; and them that suck at the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of her bride-chamber. Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord's ministers, will weep; and will say, Spare, O Lord, spare your people; and give not your inheritance to reproach, that the heathens should rule over them. Why should they say among the nations, Where is their God? The Lord has been zealous for his land, and has spared his people. And the Lord answered, and said to his people, “Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you will be filled with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations,” said the Lord Almighty.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

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

Gospel – Matthew vi. 16‒21

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face; that you appear not to men to fast, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth, where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither the rust nor moth consumes, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there is your heart also.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

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

*****

ALMIGHTY GOD, whose mercies are infinite, we implore your pardon and entreat you humbly to shed the grace of your blessing on the penitential exercises which we, with all the faithful, practice at this holy season of Lent, and while we chasten and mortify our bodies, shed on our souls the joy of a good conscience, and of a sincere and holy devotion, so that subduing all earthly desires and irregular appetites which attack the purity of our hearts and the innocence of our souls, we may the more easily apply ourselves to heavenly things. We ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.