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.
