7 MARCH – THURSDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This day brings us to the middle of Lent, and is called Mid-Lent Thursday. It is the twentieth of the forty fasts imposed on us at this holy Season by the Church. The Greeks call this Thursday Mesonestios, that is, the mid-Fast. They give this name to the entire week, which in their Liturgy is the fourth of the seven which form their Lent. But the Thursday of this week is, with them, a solemn feast, and a day of rejoicing by which they animate themselves to courage during the rest of the Season. The Catholic nations of the West, though they do not look on this day as a feast, yet have they always kept it with some degree of festivity and joy. The Church of Rome has countenanced the custom by her own observance of it, but in order not to give a pretext to dissipation, which might interfere with the spirit of fasting, she postpones to the following Sunday the formal expression of this innocent joy, as we will see further on. Yet it is not against the spirit of the Church that this Mid-Day of Lent should be marked by some demonstration of gladness, for example, by sending invitations to friends, as our Catholic forefathers used to do, and serving up to table choicer and more abundant food than on other days of Lent, taking care, however, that the laws of the Church are strictly observed. But, alas! how many there are, even of them that call themselves Catholic who have been breaking for the past twenty days these laws of abstinence and fasting! Whether the dispensations they trust to, be lawfully or unlawfully obtained, the joy of Mid-Lent Thursday seems scarcely made for them. To experience this joy one must have earned and merited it by penance, by privations, by bodily mortifications, which is just what so many nowadays, cannot think of doing. Let us pray for them that God would enlighten them and enable them to see what they are bound to do consistently with the faith they profess.

Lesson – Jeremiah vii. 1‒7

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

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

There is not a single duty in which the Church does not instruct her children. If, on the one hand, she insists on their fulfilling certain exterior practices of penance, she, on the other, warns them against the false principle of supposing, that exterior observances, however carefully complied with, can supply the want of interior virtues. God refuses to accept the homage of the spirit and the heart if man, through pride or sensuality, refuses that other service which is equally due to his Creator, namely, his bodily service. But to make one’s religion consist of nothing but material works is little better than mockery, for God bids us serve Him in spirit and in truth (John iv. 24). The Jews prided themselves on having the Temple of Jerusalem which was the dwelling-place of God’s glory, but this privilege which exalted them above other nations was not infrequently turned against themselves, inasmuch as many of them were satisfied with a mere empty respect for the holy Place. They never thought of that higher and better duty, of showing themselves grateful to their divine benefactor by observing His Law. Those Christians would be guilty of a like hypocrisy, who, though most scrupulously exact in the exterior duty of fasting and abstinence, were to take no pains to amend their lives, and follow the rules of justice, charity and humility. They would deserve that our Lord should say of them what He said of Israel: This people glorify me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Isaias xxix. 13). This Christian pharisaism is very rare nowadays. What we have to fear is a disregard for the exterior practices of religion. Those of the faithful who are diligent in the fulfilment of the laws of the Church, are not, generally speaking, behindhand in the practice of other virtues. Still, this false conscience is sometimes to be met with, and is a scandal which does much spiritual injury. Let us, therefore, observe the whole Law. Let us offer to God a spiritual service which consists in the heart’s obedience to all His commandments, and to this let us join the homage of our bodies by practising those things which the Church has prescribed. The body is intended to be an aid to the soul, and is destined to share in her eternal happiness. It is but just that it should share in the service of God.

Gospel – Luke iv. 38‒44

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

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

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