28 FEBRUARY – WEDNESDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT

Lesson – Esther xiii. 8‒17

In those days Mardochai besought the Lord, and said, “O Lord, Lord, Almighty King, for all things are in your power, and there is none that can resist your will, if you determine to save Israel. You have made heaven and earth, and all things that are under the cope of heaven. You are Lord of all, and there is none that can resist your majesty. And now, O Lord, O King, O God of Abraham, have mercy on your people, because our enemies resolve to destroy us, and extinguish your inheritance. Despise not your portion, which you have redeemed for yourself out of Egypt. Hear my supplication, and be merciful to thy lot and inheritance, and turn our mourning into joy, that we may live and praise your name, O Lord, and shut not the mouths of them that sing to you, O Lord our God.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This petition, which Mardochai presents to God, in favour of a whole nation that was doomed to destruction, represents the prayers which the saints of the Old Testament offered for the salvation of the world. The human race was, to a great extent, in the power of Satan, who is figured by Aman. The Almighty King had given sentence against mankind: Ye shall die the death. Who was there, that could induce him to revoke the sentence? Esther made intercession with Assuerus, her lord, and she was heard. Mary presented herself before the throne of the Eternal God: and it is she that, by her Divine Son, crushes the head of the serpent, who was to have tormented us for ever. The sentence, then, is to be annulled; all will live that wish to live. Today, we have the Church praying for her children, who are in the state of sin. She trembles at seeing them in danger of being eternally lost. She intercedes for them, and she uses Mardochai’s prayer. She humbly reminds her Divine Spouse, that he has redeemed them out of Egypt and, by Baptism, has made them His members, His inheritance. She beseeches Him to change their mourning into joy, even into the great Easter joy. She says to him: Oh! shut not the mouths of them that sing to you! It is true, these poor sinners have, in past times, offended their God by word, as well as by deed and thought; but now they speak not but words of humble prayers for mercy, and, when they will have been pardoned, how fervently will they not sing to their divine deliverer, and bless Him in canticles of grateful love!

Gospel – Matthew xx. 17‒28

At that time, Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart and said to them: “Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles, to be mocked, and to be scourged, and to be crucified, and the third day he will rise again.” Then came to Him the mother of the sons of Zebedee, with her sons, adoring and asking something of Him. Who said to her: “What wilt thou?” She said to Him: “Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on your right hand, and the other on your left, your kingdom.” And Jesus answering, said: “You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I will drink?” They said to Him: “We can.” He said to them: “Of my chalice, indeed, you will drink; but to sit on my right hand, or left hand, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father.” And the ten hearing it, were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them to him, and said “You know that the princes of the gentiles lord it over them; and they that are the greater, exercise power on them. It will not be so among you, but whoever will be the greater among you, let him be your minister; and he that will be first among you, will be your servant. Even as the Son of Man is not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This is He that gave his own life in order to appease the anger of the Almighty King, and redeem His people from death. It is Jesus, the Son of the new Esther, and the Son of God, who comes forward to humble the pride of Aman, at the very time that this perfidious enemy of ours is making sure of his victory. He goes up to Jerusalem, for it is there that the great battle is to be fought. He foretells His Disciples all that is to happen. He will be delivered up to the chief priests, who will condemn Him to death, and hand Him over to the Roman Governor and soldiers. He will be mocked, scourged and crucified, but He will rise again on the third day. The Apostles heard this prophecy, for the Gospel says that Jesus took the twelve apart in order to tell them these things. Judas, consequently, was present; so were Peter, James, and John, the three that had witnessed the Transfiguration of their Master on Thabor, and had a clearer knowledge of His Divinity. And yet, all abandoned him. Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied Him, and the whole flock fled away in fear, when the Shepherd was in the power of His enemies. Not one of them recollected how He had said that on the third day He would rise again; unless it were Judas, who was perhaps encouraged to commit his crime by the reflection, that Jesus would soon triumph over His enemies and be again free. The rest could see no further than the scandal of the Cross; that put an end to all their faith, and they deserted their Master. What a lesson for all future generations of Christians! How very few there are, who look on the Cross, either for themselves or for others, as a sign of God’s special love!

We are men of little faith; we cannot understand the trials God sends to our brethren, and we are often tempted to believe that He has forsaken them, because He sends them the cross. We are men of little love, too; worldly tribulation seems an evil to us, and we think ourselves hardly dealt with at the very time that our God is showing us the greatest mercy. We are like the mother of the sons of Zebedee: we would hold a high and conspicuous place near the Son of God, forgetting that we must first merit it by drinking of the chalice that He drank, that is, the chalice of suffering. We forget, too, that saying of the Apostle: That we may be glorified with Jesus, we must suffer with him! (Romans viii. 17) He, the just by excellence, entered not into His rest by honours and pleasures ― the sinner cannot follow Him, save by treading the path of penance.