Blessed Virgin Mary, Saturday memorial. St. Aelred of Rievaulx

Night Office Reading, 
Saturday memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Virgin of Kazan
Valamo monastery

       
  The memorial is a remembrance of the maternal example and discipleship of the Blessed Virgin Mary who, strengthened by faith and hope, on that great Saturday on which Our Lord lay in the tomb, was the only one of the disciples to hold vigil in expectation of the Lord’s resurrection; it is a prelude and introduction to the celebration of Sunday, the weekly memorial of the Resurrection of Christ; and it is a sign that the “Virgin Mary is continuously present and operative in the life of the Church”.On Saturdays in Ordinary Time when there is no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is allowed.

Alternative           Sermon 20    (Breviary)

A reading from the sermons of  St. Aelred of Rievaulx

Mary, our Mother

Let us come to his. bride, let us come to his - mother, let us come to the best of his handmaidens. All of these descriptions fit Blessed Mary.

But what are we to do for her.? What sort of gifts shall we offer her? O that we might at least repay to her the debt we owe her ! We owe her honour, we owe her devotion, we owe her love, we owe her praise. We owe her honour because she is the Mother of our Lord. He, who does not honour the mother, will without doubt dishonour the son. Besides, scripture says: 'Honour your- father and your mother.'

What then shall we say, brethren? Is she not our mother? Certainly, brethren, she is in truth our mother. Through her we are born, not to the world but to God.

We all, as you believe and know, were in death, in the infirmity of old age, in darkness, in misery. In death because we had lost the Lord; in the infirmity of old age, because we were in corruption; in darkness because we had lost the light of wisdom, and so we -had altogether perished.

But through Blessed Mary we all underwent a much better .birth than through Eve, inasmuch as Christ was born of Mary. Instead of the infirmity of age we have regained youth, instead of corruption incorruption, instead of darkness light.

She is our mother, mother of our life, of our incorruption, of our light. The Apostle says of our Lord, ‘Whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and redemption.

She therefore who. -is the mother of Christ is the mother of our wisdom, mother of our righteousness, mother of our sanctification, mother of our redemption. Therefore she is more our mother than the mother of our flesh. Better therefore is our birth which we derive from Mary, for from her is our holiness, our wisdom; our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption.

Scripture says, 'Praise the Lord in his saints'. If our Lord is to be praised in those saints through whom he performs mighty works and miracles, how much more should he be praised in her in whom he fashioned himself, he who is wonderful beyond all wonder.

RESPONSORY

R/ Blessed is the holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise; * through her has risen the Sun of, Justice, Christ our God, by whom we are saved and redeemed.

V/ Let us joyfully celebrate this feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary.* Through her has risen ...

Eastertide 6th Sunday Eusebius of Caesarea

Caldey sea scape, Chapel

 Patristic Lectionary.......

... Anoint the lintel of our mind with the blood of the Lamb who was sacrificed for us  ... 

SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER Year II 

SUNDAY

First Reading      Acts 24:25-25:27 (or 24:25; 25:6-27)

Responsory      Lk 21:12-13; Mk 13:9

They will lay hands on you and persecute you. You will be taken be­fore synagogues and put in prison for my name's sake. + That will be your chance to bear witness, alleluia.

V. They will hand you over to the courts; you will stand before gov­ernors and kings on my account.+ That will be ...  

Second Reading

From the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea
(Treatise on the Paschal Solemnity 7.9.10-12: PG24 , 701-706)   

Sunday Eucharist

In the time of Moses the paschal lamb was sacrificed only once a year, on the fourteenth day of the first month toward evening, but we of the new covenant celebrate our Passover every week on the Lord's day. We are continually being filled with the body of the Saviour and sharing in the blood of the Lamb. Daily we gird ourselves with chastity and prepare, staff in hand, to follow the path of the gospel. Leaning on the rod that came forth from the root of Jesse, we are always departing from Egypt in search of the solitude of the desert. We are constantly setting out on our journey to God and celebrating the Passover. The gospel would have us do these things not only once a year but daily.

We hold our Eucharistic celebration every week on the day of our Lord and Saviour, for this is our paschal feast, the feast of the true Lamb who redeemed us. We do not circumcise the body with a knife, but with the sharp edge of the word of God we cut away all evil from our souls. We use no unleavened bread, except for that of sincerity and truth. Grace has freed us from outworn Jewish customs and created us anew in the image of God. It has given us a new law, a new circumcision, a new Passover, and made us Jews inwardly, thus releasing us from our former bondage.

On the fifth day of the week, while having supper with his disciples, the Saviour said to them: With all my heart I have longed to eat this Passover with you. It was not the old Jewish Passover that he desired to share with his disciples, but the new Passover of the new covenant that he was giving to them, and that many prophets and upright people before him had longed to see. He proclaimed his desire for the new Passover which he, the Word himself, in his infinite thirst for the salvation of the whole human race, was establishing as a feast to be celebrated by all peoples everywhere. The Passover of Moses was not for all peoples, indeed it could not be, because the law allowed it to be celebrated only in Jerusalem. Christ's desire, then, must have been not for that old Passover, but for the saving mystery of the new covenant which was for everyone.

And so we too should eat this Passover with Christ. We should cleanse our minds of all the leaven of evil and wickedness and be filled with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, becoming Jews inwardly, in our souls, where the true circumcision takes place. We should anoint the lintel of our mind with the blood of the Lamb who was sacrificed for us, and so ward off our destroyer. We should do this not only once a year, but every week, continually.

On the day before the Sabbath we fast in memory of our Saviour's passion, as the apostles were the first to do when the bridegroom was taken from them. On the Lord's day we receive life from the sacred body of our saving Passover and our souls are sealed with his precious blood.

Responsory      1 Cor 5:7-8; Heb 10:10

Christ has become our paschal sacrifice. + Let us therefore celebrate the feast not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, alleluia.

V. We have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. + Let us therefore ...  

SUNDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT, YEAR II, Origen, The murmuring of Miriam and Aaron against Moses

Orchid flower gift in Lady Cloister-
The orchid is a flower of magnificence
that brings a universal message of love,
beauty, wisdom, and thoughtfulness. 

Patristic Lectionary, Night Office, 

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF NUMBERS   

(The murmuring of Miriam and Aaron against Moses: Numbers 12:1-15)

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman; and they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward. And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech; and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed; and when the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” And Moses cried to the LORD, “Heal her, O God, I beseech thee.” But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” So Miriam was shut up outside the camp seven days; and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. 

FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

SUNDAY       

Year II

First Reading Numbers 12:1-15

Responsory           Heb 3:5-6; Sir 45:1.4

Moses was faithful in God's house as a servant; + but Christ was faith­ful as a son set over God's house, and we are that house.

V. Moses was loved by God and man; his memory is blessed. The Lord sanctified him for his faithfulness and gentleness. + But Christ was ...

Second Reading From a homily by Origen of Alexandria (In Num., Horn. 7, 1-2: se 29,133-136)

The glory of Moses

According to Saint Paul, everything that happened to the Israelites was symbolic, and was recorded as a warning to us. If this is so we should try to learn what we can from the story of Aaron and Miriam, who were rebuked by God for speaking against their brother Moses. Miriam received the additional punishment of leprosy. The chosen people took this chastise­ment so much to heart that they discontinued their journey to the promised land, and the Tent of the Presence stood still, until Miriam had completed her seven days' exclusion from the camp. What we are given here, in the first place, is a use­ful and necessary lesson not to speak ill of our neighbors, and not to make derogatory remarks about good and holy people, or indeed about anyone at all, when we see the anger and vengeance of God that result. Those who do so may be asked to speak against Moses. Because of this they become spiritual lepers; their unclean hearts exclude them from the camp which is the Church of God.

Now whether speaking against Moses means that these peo­ple are heretics, or whether they are members of the Church who slander their brothers and sisters and speak ill of their neighbors, there is no doubt that all who practice this vice are lepers at heart. In the case of Miriam, this leprosy was healed on the seventh day, thanks to the intervention of Aaron the high priest; but as for us, if we allow ourselves to indulge our cruel habit of speaking ill of people and our souls are punished with leprosy, we shall continue in our spiritual uncleanness until the last day of all, that is until the day of resurrection, unless we change our ways while there is still time for us to repent and turn to the Lord Jesus, asking him to help us to do penance and be purified.

And now let us hear the account of what happened after­ward, and how the Holy Spirit paid tribute to Moses. SCripture tells us that the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the door of the Tent of the Presence. Aaron and Miriam were summoned, and they both came forward. The Lord said to them: Listen to my words. If anyone of you is a prophet, I make myself known to him in visions, and speak to him in dreams. It is not so, however, with my servant Moses; he alone is faithful of all my household. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not by means of symbols or parables, and he has seen the glory of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Scripture goes on to say that the Lord's anger struck them, and he dismissed them from his presence. When the cloud departed from the tent, there stood Miriam, white as snow with leprosy.

You see what punishment those envious tongues brought on themselves, and in contrast what honors they earned for the brother they had abused. He was honored, they were dis­graced; he was covered with glory, they were covered with leprosy; he was praised, they were blamed.

The hidden meaning of the symbolic events of the Old Testament was explained by Saint Paul when he wrote: We know that our ancestors were all guided by the cloud, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate and drank the same spiritual food and drink, since they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. You see how Paul opens up the significance of the Old Testament symbols, and teaches us about the realities which these symbols represented. For Moses, the rock was one such symbol, whereas for us, now that God speaks face to face through the Old Testament, the reality signified is clearly revealed: the rock is Christ. In former times baptism was veiled in the symbols of the cloud and of the sea; but now the full reality of our rebirth is revealed in water and the Holy Spirit In those days manna was the symbolic food of the people, but now the true food prefigured by the manna is clearly declared to be the flesh of the Word of God., even as he himself tells us: My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

Responsory

1 Corinihians 10:10-11.6

Do not complain as some of our ancestors did and were killed by the destroyer.

+All these things that happened to them were symbolic and were written down for our instruction.

They are warnings for us not to desire evil as they did. + All these things ...

Lent 4th Week. St. Cyril of Alexandria, ‘The fiery cloud’

Patristic Lectionary, from 1982 and 2001 Editions

Window through ...

FRIDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT, YEAR II

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF NUMBERS

(The Cloud upon the Tabernacle and the silver trumpets: Numbers 9:15 – 10:10, 33-36)

On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony; and at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was continually; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel encamped. At the command of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the LORD they encamped; as long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, ...

A Reading from the Adoration and Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth by St Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria  (444). Nestorius was condemned in 431 by the Council of Ephesus at which Cyril presided, and Mary’s title, Mother of God, was solemnly recognized. The Incarnation is central to Cyril’s theology. Only if Christ is consubstantial with the Father and with us can he save us, for the meeting ground between God and ourselves is the flesh of Christ. Through our kinship with Christ, the Word made flesh; we become children of God, and share in the filial relation of the Son with the Father.

The fiery cloud

The glory of Christ filled the true Tabernacle, which is the Church, from the very moment it was set up on earth. This, surely, is what is signified by the cloud that covered the first Tabernacle. Christ has filled the Church with his glory, and now like a fire, he shines forth to give light to those who live in the darkness of ignorance and error. He shades and protects those already enlightened by the dawn of his day in their hearts. He refreshes them with the heavenly dew of his consolations sent down from above through the Spirit. This is what we should understand by the saying that by night he appeared in the form of fire, and by day in the form of cloud. Those who were as yet uninstructed in the teaching of Christ required spiritual enlighten­ment to bring them to a knowledge of God; but the more advanced, whose minds had been illumined by faith, were in need of protection from the scorching heat of the day, and of courage to bear the burdens of this present life. For all who desire to live a godly life in Christ will suffer persecution.

Whenever the cloud moved forward, the Tabernacle went with it; when the cloud settled, the Tabernacle came to rest with it and the Israelites broke their journey. Now the meaning of this for us is that wherever Christ leads, the Church, the holy multi­tude of believers, follows him. The faithful are never separated from the Saviour who calls them to himself. We may not be able to find any special meaning in the constant halts and new departures throughout our spiritual journey under Christ's guidance. It is the whole journey, following the cloud whether it moves forward or settles, that symbolizes our desire to be with God.

Nevertheless, if we would have a more subtle interpretation, we could perhaps say that our first departure is from unbelief to faith, from ignorance to knowledge, and from having no perception of the true God to clear recognition of the Creator and Lord of the universe. The second stage, and an essential one, is conversion from sin and licentiousness to a desire for amendment both in thought and deed. But the best and most glorious is the third part of the journey, because in it we leave behind what is deficient and move onward toward what is perfect both in our actions and in our belief.

So, little by little, we advance toward the ideal we see in Christ, to become the perfect man, sharing in the perfection of Christ himself. This surely is what Saint Paul means by saying: Forgetting what lies behind me and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the goal, the heavenly reward to which God calls me in Christ Jesus.

St Cyril of Alexandria, The Adoration and Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth, (Lib. 5: PG 68:393-396);  Word in Season II, 1^st ed.

Lent, [Moses] was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. Tertullian

Mount Sinai

Sinai view

Night Office Readings, as we are mid-Lent, the OT words resounded the words of the FORTY DAY AND FORTY NIGHTS, reminding of Moses' being with the Lord forty days and forty nights, not to eat or drink water.

Monastic Lectionary for the Divine Office

Edited by

Friends of Henry Ashworth

Exordium Books 1982

The Covenant Renewed 34:10-28
34:28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

THIRD WEEK OF LENT - Thursday Year II   

First Reading

Year II
From the book of Exodus (34:10-29)

Responsory

Hebrews 5:8.9.7

Though he was the Son of God.

Christ learned obedience through what he suffered; + and now, for all who obey him,

he has become the source of eternal life.

In the days of his earthly life he prayed, crying aloud. and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard. + And now, for ...

Second Reading

From the treatise On Prayer by Tertullian (De oratione, 28-29: CCL 1, 273-274)

In this extract from a work addressed to catechumens between 198 and 220 A.D., Tertullian speaks of the interior and exterior discipline of liturgical prayer, which is a spiritual sacrifice of great power and efficacy.

Prayer is the spiritual offering that has replaced the ancient sacrifices. What good do I receive from the multiplicity of your sacrifices? asks God. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. Who has asked for these from your hands? What God has asked for we learn from the gospel. The hour will come, it says, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is spirit, and so he looks for worshipers who are like himself.

We are the true worshipers and the true priests. Praying in spirit we offer prayer to God as a sacrifice. Prayer is an appropriate and an acceptable sacrifice to God. It is the offering he has asked for and the offering he expects.

We must make this offering with our whole heart. We must fatten it on faith. prepare it by truth. keep it unblemished by innocence, spotless by chastity, and we must crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it wiU gain for us all that we ask of God. What can God refuse to prayer offered in spirit and in truth, when he himself asks for such prayer? How many proofs of its efficacy we read about, hear of, and believe!

Lent 2nd Week Life of Moses by St Gregory of Nyssa

   Patristic Lectionary,    
   Midday
We enjoy Bright sunshine and windy nights.

Beautiful views in all directions.

The Japanese Lilac tree is radiant in full bloom, especially from my refectory window.             

Friday of the Second Week in Lent Year II

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF EXODUS

(Promise of the covenant and appearance of the Lord on Sinai: Exodus 19:1-19; 20:1 2nd Week 8-21)

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And when they set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” ...........

                Responsory        Ex 19:5-6; 1 Pt 2:9

If you do what I tell you and keep my covenant, out of all the nations you will be my own possession, dearer to me than any other people. + You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.

V. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people God has claimed as his own. + You shall be ...

A reading from the Life of Moses by St Gregory of Nyssa
2.162-66 (SC 1, 80-82)

At first God appeared to Moses in light but later, on Mount Sinai,
he appeared in darkness

 The Life of Moses was written sometime between 890 and 392. Gregory teaches that the divine essence is unviable. The true knowledge and the true vision of God consists in realizing this. At first God appeared to Moses in light but later, on Mount Sinai, he appeared in darkness.

Moses entered into the darkness and there he saw God. What does this signify? This present account seems in a way to contradict that of the first theophany. Then God appeared in light, but now he appears in darkness. Yet we must not imagine this to be at variance with our normal experience of spiritual contemplation. By this statement the text teaches us that religious knowledge is first experienced as light. All that is seen to be opposed to religion is darkness, and darkness vanishes when we receive the light. But the more the mind advances and by ever increasing and more perfect application attains an intellectual comprehension of realities and approaches contemplation, the more clearly it sees that the divine nature is invisible. Having left behind all appearances, not only those perceived by the senses but also those the intellect seems to see, it plunges ever deeper within itself, until by spiritual effort it penetrates to the invisible and the unknowable, and there it sees God.

This is the true knowledge of what is sought; this is the seeing that consists in not seeing, because that which is sought transcends all knowledge, being separated on all sides by incomprehensibility as by a kind of darkness. This is why John the contemplative, who had penetrated this luminous darkness, said that no one had ever seen God, declaring by this negation that the divine essence is beyond the reach not only of men but of every rational nature as well.

And so, when Moses had advanced in knowledge he declared that he saw God in the darkness, or in other words that he recognized that the Divinity is essentially that which transcends all knowledge and which no mind can apprehend. The text says: Moses entered into the darkness where God was. What God? He who has made the darkness his covering, as David declared, who had himself been initiated into the divine mysteries in that same sanctuary.

When Moses arrived there, he was taught by word what he had formerly learned from darkness, so that, I think, the doctrine on this matter may be made more firm for us by the witness of the divine voice. The divine word at the beginning forbade that the Divine be likened to any of the things known by men, since every concept which comes from some comprehensible image constitutes an idol of God and does not proclaim God.

Responsory        In 4:23-24

Those who worship the Father must worship him in spirit and in truth. +The Father seeks such worshipers as these.

V. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit

and truth. + The Father seeks ...

St Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, 2.162-66 (SC 1, 80-82); from Word in Season II, 1^st ed.

Ash Wednesday Patristic Lectionary,

Night Office Readings  

See previous Wednesday, 13 February 2013  
http://nunraw.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/thomas-merton-reading-ash-wednesday-13.html  Thomas Merton Reading Ash Wednesday 13 Feb 2013

 

       ASH WEDNESDAY

Night Office -Alternative Reading

From  Thomas Merton, O.CS.O.

(Meditations on the Liturgy, 100-101)

A time of metanoia

TWO YEAR LECTIONARY

PATRISTIC VIGILS READINGS

EXORDIUM BOOKS 1982

LENT

ASH WEDNESDAY - YEAR 2

FIREST READING FROM THE PROPHET ISAIAH

(On the fast that pleases God: Isaiah 58:1-12)

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. ...

SECOND READING

From a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement I, pope and martyr
(Cap. 7, 7-8, 3; 8, 5-9, 1;13, 1-4; 19, 2: Funk 1, 71-73, 77-78)

Repent

Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognize how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world.

If we review the various ages of history, we will see that in every generation the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to him. When Noah preached God’s message of repentance, all who listened to him were saved. Jonah told the Ninevites they were going to be destroyed, but when they repented, their prayers gained God’s forgiveness for their sins, and they were saved, even though they were not of God’s people.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the ministers of God’s grace have spoken of repentance; indeed, the Master of the whole universe himself spoke of repentance with an oath: As I live, says the Lord, I do not wish the death of the sinner but his repentance. He added this evidence of his goodness: House of Israel, repent of your wickedness. Tell the sons of my people: If their sins should reach from earth to heaven, if they are brighter than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, you need only turn to me with your whole heart and say, “Father”, and I will listen to you as a holy people.

In other words, God wanted all his beloved ones to have the opportunity to repent and he confirmed this desire by his own almighty will. That is why we should obey his sovereign and glorious will and prayerfully entreat his mercy and kindness. We should be suppliant before him and turn to his compassion, rejecting empty works and quarreling and jealousy which only lead to death.

Brothers, we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger. Rather, we should act in accordance with the Scriptures, as the Holy Spirit says: The wise man must not glory in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches. Rather, let him who glories glory in the Lord by seeking him and doing what is right and just. Recall especially what the Lord Jesus said when he taught gentleness and forbearance. Be merciful, he said, so that you may have mercy shown to you. Forgive, so that you may be forgiven. As you treat others, so you will be treated. As you give, so you will receive. As you judge, so you will be judged. As you are kind to others, so you will be treated kindly. The measure of your giving will be the measure of your receiving.

Let these commandments and precepts strengthen us to live in humble obedience to his sacred words. As Scripture asks: Whom shall I look upon with favor except the humble, peaceful man who trembles at my words?

Sharing then in the heritage of so many vast and glorious achievements, let us hasten toward the goal of peace, set before us from the beginning. Let us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Father and Creator of the whole universe, and hold fast to his splendid and transcendent gifts of peace and all his blessings.

RESPONSORY
Isaiah 55:7; Joel 2:13; See Ezekiel 33:11

Let the evil man give up his way of life,
and the sinful man his thoughts.
Let him turn back to the Lord,
and the Lord will have mercy on him.
– Our God is kind and compassionate,
always ready to forgive.

The Lord does not wish the sinner to die,
but to turn back to him and live.
– Our God is kind and compassionate,
always ready to forgive.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Lord,
protect us in our struggle against evil.
As we begin the discipline of Lent,
make this day holy by our self-denial.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Or:

Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting
this campaign of Christian service,
so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,
we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

ACCLAMATION 

Let us praise the Lord.
– And give him thanks.
*************************

Alternative Reading 

FROM A SERMON BY ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

St John Chrysostom, Oratio 3 Adversus Iudaeos (PG 48, 867-868); from Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Explaining the great Lenten fast, Chrysostom emphasizes the work of purification this liturgical season is meant to accomplish in the people of God. The homily was delivered at Antioch in 336 or 387.

Why do we fast for forty days?             Insert jump break