Dom Prosper Guéranger:
The Fast of today is prescribed by a double law: it is Lent, and it is Ember Wednesday. It is the same with the Friday and Saturday of this week. There are two principal objects for the Ember days of this period of the year: the first is, to offer up to God the Season of Spring, and, by fasting and prayer, to draw down His blessing upon it; the second is, to ask Him to enrich with His choicest graces the Priests and Sacred Ministers who are to receive their Ordination on Saturday. Let us, therefore, have a great respect for these three days; and let those who violate, on them, the laws of Fasting or Abstinence, know that they commit a two-fold sin.
Up to the eleventh century, the Ember Days of Spring were kept in the first week of March; and those of Summer, in the second week of June. It was St. Gregory the Seventh who fixed them as we now have them; that is, the Ember Days of Spring in the first week of Lent, and those of Summer in Whitsun Week.
The Epistle of the Mass for all the Ember Wednesdays consists of two Lessons from Sacred Scripture. Today the Church brings before us the two great types of Lent —Moses and Elias —in order to impress us with an idea of the importance of this Forty Days’ Fast, which Christ Himself solemnly consecrated when He observed it, and thus fulfilled, in His own person, what the Law and the Prophets had but prefigured.First Lesson – Exodus xxiv. 12‒18
In those days, the Lord said to Moses: “Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give you tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.” Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua; and Moses going up into the mount of God, said to the ancients: “Wait here till we return to you, you have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question will arise, you will refer it to them.” And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days, and the seventh day He called him out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord, was like a burning fire upon the top of the Mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain; and he was there forty days and forty nights.Second Lesson – 3 Kings xix. 3‒8
In those days, Elias came into Bersabee of Judah, and left his servant there. And he went forward one day’s journey into the desert. And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said: “It is enough for me, Lord: take away my soul, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he cast himself down, and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree; and behold an Angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him: “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold there was at his head a hearth-cake and a vessel of water; and he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again. And the Angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: “Arise, eat; for you have yet a great way to go.” And he arose, and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, to Horeb, the mount of God.Thanks be to God.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
Moses and Elias fast for forty days and forty nights, because God bids them come near to Him. Man must purify himself, he must unburden himself, in some measure at least, of the body which weighs him down, if he would enter into communication with Him who is the Spirit. And yet the vision of God, granted to these two holy personages, was very imperfect: they felt that God was near them, but they beheld not His glory. But, when the fullness of time came, (Galatians iv. 4) God manifested Himself in the flesh; and man saw, and heard, and touched him (1 John i. 1) We indeed, are not of the number of those favoured ones who lived with Jesus, the Word of Life; but in the Holy Eucharist He allows us to do more than see Him: He enters into our breasts, He is our Food. The humblest member of the Church possesses God more fully than either Moses on Sinai, or Elias on Horeb. We cannot, therefore, be surprised that the Church — in order to fit us for this favour, at the Easter Solemnity — bids us go through a preparation of Forty Days, though its severity is not to be compared with the rigid fast which Moses and Elias had to observe, as the condition of their receiving what God promised them.Gospel – Matthew xii. 38‒50
At that time, some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying: “Master we would see a sign from you.” Who answering said to them: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign: and a will shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights: so will the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The men of Niniveh will rise in judgement with this generation, and will condemn it: because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold a greater than Jonas here. The queen of the south will rise in judgement with this generation, and will condemn it: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon here. And when an unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walks through dry places seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says: ‘I will return into my house from where I came out.’ And coming he finds it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goes, and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So will it be also to this wicked generation.” As He was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold His mother and His brethren stood without, seeking to speak to Him. And one said to Him: “Behold your mother and your brethren stand without, seeking you.” But He answering him that told him, said: “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?” And stretching forth his hand towards His disciples, He said: “Behold my mother and my brethren.” For whoever will do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”Praise be to you, O Christ.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
Our Lord forewarns Israel of the chastisements, which its voluntary blindness and hardness of heart will bring upon it. The men of Israel refuse to believe, unless they see signs and prodigies; they have them in abundance, but will not see them. Such are the unbelievers of the present day. They say, they want proofs of the divine origin of the Catholic Religion. What is History, but a tissue of proof? What are the events of the present age, but testimony of the truth? — and yet, they remain incredulous. They have their own views and prejudices, and they intend to keep to them; how, then, can it be wondered at, that they never embrace the true Faith? Infidels, who have not had the like opportunities, will rise in judgement with such a generation and condemn it for its resistance to grace. Let us Catholics remember, that amidst the great religious movement which is now going on, it is our duty to be not only most firm in our faith, but also most zealous in the observance of the Laws of the Church, such, for example, as Lent. The apostolate of example will produce its fruits; and if a mere handful of Christians was, to the Roman Empire, like that leaven of which our Saviour speaks, and which leavened the whole mass — what results may we not expect in a country like our own (which has retained so much catholic practice and doctrine) — if the Catholics themselves were but zealous in the exercise of their duties?
