And God remembered Noah and all the living creatures, and all the cattle which were with him in the ark, and brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters were abated. The fountains also of the deep, and the flood gates of heaven were shut up, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters returned from off the earth going and coming: and they began to be abated after a hundred and fifty days. And the ark rested in the seventh month, the seven and twentieth day of the month, on the mountains of Armenia. And the waters were going and decreasing until the tenth month: for in the tenth month, the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared. And after that forty days were passed, Noah, opening the window of the ark which he had made, sent forth a raven: which went forth and did not return till the waters were dried up on the earth. He sent forth also a dove after him to see if the waters had now ceased on the face of the earth. But she, not finding where her foot might rest, returned to him into the ark: for the waters were on the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and caught her and brought her into the ark. And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove out of the ark. And she came to him in the evening, carrying a bough of an olive tree with green leaves in her mouth. Noah therefore understood that the waters were ceased on the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days: and he sent forth the dove, which returned no more to him. Therefore in the six hundredth and first year, the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were lessened on the earth, and Noah opening the covering of the ark, looked, and saw that the face of the earth was dried.Thanks be to God.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
When we reflect upon the terrible events which happened in the First Age of the world, we are lost in astonishment at the wickedness of man, and at the effrontery with which he sins against his God. How was it that the dread words of that God which were spoken against our First Parents in Eden could be so soon forgotten? How could the children of Adam see their father suffering and doing such endless penance without humbling themselves and imitating this model of repentance? How was it that the promise of a Mediator who was to re-open the gate of Heaven for them could be believed and yet not awaken in their souls the desire of making themselves worthy to be His ancestors and partakers of that grand regeneration which he was to bring to mankind? And yet, the years which followed the death of Adam were years of crime and scandal. Nay, he himself lived to see one of his own children become the murderer of a brother. But why be thus surprised at the wickedness of these our first brethren? The Earth is now six thousand years old in the continued reception of divine blessings and chastisements, and are men less dull of heart, less ungrateful, less rebellious towards their Maker?
For the generality of men, we mean of those who deign to believe in the Fall and Chastisement of our First Parents and in the destruction of the world by the Deluge —what are these great Truths? Mere historical facts which have never once inspired them with a fear of God’s justice. More favoured than these early generations of the human race, they know that the Messiah has been sent, that God has come down upon the Earth, that He has been made Man, that He has broken Satan’s rule, that the way to Heaven has been made easy by the graces embodied by the Redeemer in the Sacraments — and yet, sin reigns and triumphs in the midst of Christianity. Undoubtedly the just are more numerous than they were in the days of Noah but then what riches of grace has not our Redeemer poured out on our degenerate race by the ministry of His Spouse, the Church? Yes, there are Faithful Christians to be found upon the Earth and the number of the Elect is every day being added to, but the multitude is living at enmity with God, and their actions are in contradiction with their Faith.
When, therefore, the Holy Church reminds us of those times in which all flesh had corrupted its way, she is urging us to think about our own conversion. Her motive in relating to us the history of the sins committed at the beginning of the world is to induce us to examine our own consciences. Why, too, does she read to us those pages of Sacred Writ which so vividly describe the floodgates of Heaven opening and deluging the guilty Earth, if not that she would warn us against mocking that great God who thus chastised the sins of His rebellious creatures? Last week we were called upon to consider the sad consequences of Adam’s sin — a sin which we ourselves did not commit, but the effects of which lie so heavy upon us. This week we must reflect upon the sins we ourselves have committed. Though God had loaded us with favours, guided us by His light, redeemed us with His Blood, and strengthened us against all our enemies by His grace, yet have we corrupted our way, and caused our God to repent His having created us. Let us confess our wickedness and humbly acknowledge that we owe it to the mercies of the Lord that we have not been consumed (Lamentations iii. 22).
