Days after Ash Wednesday [Thursday - Saturday]

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Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

Although the law of fasting began yesterday, yet Lent, properly so called, does not begin till the Vespers of Saturday next. In order to distinguish the rest of Lent from these four days which have been added to it, the Church continues to chant Vespers at the usual hour, and allows her ministers to break their fast before having said that Office. But beginning with Saturday, the Vespers will be anticipated; every day (Sundays excepted, which always exclude fasting), they will be said at such an early hour that when the faithful take their full meal, the evening Office will be over. It is a remnant of the discipline of the primitive Church, which forbade the faithful to break their fast before sunset, in other words, before Vespers or Evensong.

The Church has given to these three days after Ash-Wednesday a resemblance to the other Ferias of her Lenten Season, by assigning to each of them a Lesson from, the Old Testament, and a Gospel, for Mass. We, of course, insert them, adding a few reflections to each. We also give the Collect of these three days.

The Station, in Rome, for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, is in the Church of Saint George in Velabro, (the Veil of Gold.) 

Collect
Deus, qui culpa offenderis, pœnitentia placaris: preces populi tui supplicantis propitius respice: et flagella tuæ iracundiæ, quæ pro peccatis nostric meremur, averte. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. 
O God, who by sin art offended, and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of thy suppliant people: and turn away the scourges of thy wrath, which we deserve for our sins. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Epistle
Lesson from Isaias the Prophet. Ch. xxxviii.

In those days, Ezechias was sick even to death, and Isaias the son of Amos the prophet came unto him, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live. And Ezechias turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, And said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Ezechias wept with great weeping. And the word of the Lord came to Isaias, saying: Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: behold I will add to thy days fifteen years: And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it, saith the Lord almighty.

Yesterday, the Church spoke to us upon the certainty of death. Die we must: we have not only God’s infallible word for it, but no reasonable man could ever entertain the thought that he was to be an exception to the rule. But if the fact of our death be certain, the day on which we are to die is also fixed. God, in His wisdom, has concealed the day from us; it becomes our duty not to be taken by surprise. This very night, it might be said to us, as it was to Ezechias: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die. We ought to spend each day as though it were to be our last. Were God even to grant us, as He did to the holy king of Juda, a prolongation of life, we must come, sooner or later, to that last hour, beyond which there is no time, and eternity begins. The Church’s intention in thus reminding us of our mortality, is to put us on our guard against the allurements of this short life, and urge us to earnestness in the great work of regeneration, for which she has been preparing us during these last three weeks. How many there are of those who yesterday received the ashes, who will never see the joys of Easter, at least in this world! To them, the ceremony has been a prediction of what is to happen to them, perhaps before the month is out. And yet the very same words that were pronounced over them were said to us. May not we ourselves be of the number of those who are thus soon to be victims of death? In this uncertainty, let us gratefully accept the warning, which our Jesus came down from heaven to give us: Do penance; for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Gospel
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. Ch. viii.
At that time: When Jesus had entered into Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is grieviously tormented. And Jesus saith to him: I will come and heal him. And the centurion making answer, said: Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers; and I say to this, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. And Jesus hearing this, marvelled; and said to them that followed him: Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. And I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven: But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said to the centurion: Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee. And the servant was healed at the same hour.

The sacred Scriptures, the fathers, and theologians tell us that there are three eminent good works which are, at the same time, works of penance: prayer, fasting, and almsdeeds. In the lessons she gives us on these three days, which form as it were the threshold of Lent, the Church instructs us upon these works. Today it is a prayer she recommends to us. Look at the centurion of today’s Gospel, who comes to our Savior, beseeching Him to heal his servant. His prayer is humble; in all the sincerity of his heart, he deems himself unworthy to receive Jesus under his roof. His prayer is full of faith; he doubts not for an instant that Jesus is able to grant him what he asks. And with what ardor he prays! The faith of this Gentile is greater than that of the children of Israel, and elicits praise from the Son of God. Such ought to be our prayer, when we solicit the cure of our souls. Let us acknowledge that we are not worthy to speak to God, and yet, let us have an unshaken confidence in the power and goodness of Him who not only commands us to pray that He may pour out His mercies upon us. The season we are now in is one of prayer; the Church redoubles her supplications; it is for us that she makes them; we must take our share in them. Let us, during this season of grace, cast off that languor which fastens on the soul at other times; let us remember that it is prayer which repairs the faults we have already committed, and preserves us from sin for the future.

Humilitate capita vestra Deo. 
Parce Domine, parce populo tuo, ut dignis flagellationibus castigatus, in tua miseratione respiret. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Bow down your heads to God.
Spare, O Lord, spare thy people; that having been justly chastised, they may find comfort in thy mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Friday after Ash Wednesday

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

The Station for to-day is in the Church of the holy Martyrs, Saints John and Paul.

Collect
Inchoata jejunia, quæsumus Domine, benigno favore prosequere: ut observantiam, quam corporaliter exhibemus, mentibus etiam sinceris exercere valeamus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. 
Graciously favor us, O Lord, we beseech thee, in the fast we have undertaken: that what we observe outwardly, we may perform with sincere minds. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Epistle
Lesson from Isaias the Prophet. Ch. lviii.

Thus saith the Lord God: Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins. For they seek me from day to day, sad desire to know my ways, as a nation that hath done justice, and hath not forsaken the judgment of their God: they ask of me the judgments of justice: they are willing to approach to God. Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: have we humbled our souls, and thou hast not taken notice? Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors. Behold you fast for debates and strife. and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard on high. Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden. Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am; for I the Lord thy God am merciful.

We are told, in this Lesson from the Prophet Isaias, what are the dispositions which should accompany our Fast. It is God himself who here speaks to us, — that God who had himself commanded his people to Fast. He tells us, that the fasting from material food is a mere nothing in his eyes, unless they who practise it abstain also from sin. He demands the sacrifice of the body; but it is not acceptable to him, unless that of the soul goes along, with it. The living God can never consent to be treated as were the senseless gods of wood and stone, which the Gentiles adored, and which were incapable of receiving any other than a mere external homage. Let, then, the heretic cease to find fault with the Church for her observance of practices, which he pretends to scorn as being material; it is he that grows material by his system of letting the body have every indulgence. The Children of the Church fast, because fasting is recommended in almost every page of both the Old and New Testament, and because Jesus Christ himself fasted for forty days; but they are fully aware that this practice, which is thus recommended and urged, is then alone meritorious, when it is ennobled and completed by the homage of a heart that is resolved to reform its vicious inclinations. And after all, it would be an injustice, if the body, which has been led into guilt solely through the malice of the soul, were to be made to suffer, and the soul herself be allowed to continue in her sinful course. Hence it is, that they whose ill-health prevents them from observing the bodily austerities of Lent, are equally bound to impose on their soul that spiritual fast, which consists in the amendment of their life, in the avoiding everything that is sinful, and in the zealous performance of every good work in their power.

Gospel
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. Ch. v., vi.

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect. Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven. Therefore when thou dost an almsdeed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth. That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.

Almsdeeds is the third of the great penitential works: it is the sister-virtue of Prayer and Fasting. For this reason, the Church puts before us, today, the instructions given by our Saviour on the manner in which we ought to do works of mercy. He puts upon us the duty of loving our fellow-men, without distinction of friends or enemies. God, who has created them all, loves them himself; this is motive enough to make us show mercy to all. If he bears with them, even when they are his enemies by sin, and patiently waits for their conversion even to the end of their lives, so that they who are lost, are lost through their own fault, what ought not we to do, we who are sinners as they are, and their brethren, and created, like them, out of nothing? When, therefore, we do an act of kindness or mercy towards those who have God for their Father, we offer him a most acceptable homage. Charity, the queen of virtues, absolutely requires of us the love of our neighbour, as being part of our love of God; and this Charity, at the same time that it is a sacred obligation incumbent upon each member of the family of mankind, is, in the acts it inspires us to do towards each other, a work of penance, because it imposes upon us certain privations, and requires us to overcome every repugnance which nature stirs up within us, when we have to show this Charity to certain individuals. And finally, we must, in our Almsdeeds, follow the counsel our Blessed Saviour gives us; it is the one he recommended to us, when he bade us fast: we must do it in secret, and shun ostentation. Penance loves humility and silence; it has a dread of being noticed by men; the only one whose applause it seeks, is His who seeth in secret.

Humilitate capita vestra Deo. 
Bow down your heads to God.

Tuere, Domine, populum tuum, et ab omnibus peccatis clementer emunda: quia nulla ei nocebit adversitas, si nulla ei dominetur iniquitas. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Defend, O Lord, thy people, and mercifully cleanse them from all their sins: for no misfortune can hurt them, if no wickedness rule over them. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

The Station for today is, as noted in the Missal, in the Church of Saint Trypho, Martyr; 

but this Church having been destroyed, many centuries ago, the Station is now in that of Saint Augustine, which is built on the same site.

Collect
Adesto, Domine, supplicationibus nostris, et concede ut hoc solemne jejunium, quod animabus corporibusque curandis salubriter institutum est, devoto servitio celebremus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. 
Give ear, O Lord, to our prayers, and grant that we may, with true devotion, observe this solemn fast which was wholesomely instituted for giving health to both our souls and bodies. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Epistle
Lesson from Isaias the Prophet. Ch. lviii.

Thus saith the Lord God: If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not. When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday. And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail. And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundations of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found: to speak a word: Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Saturday is a day replete with mystery, It is the day of God’s rest; it is a figure of the eternal peace, which awaits us in heaven after the toils of this life are over. The object of the Church in giving us, today, this Lesson from Isaias, is to teach us how we are to merit our eternal Sabbath. We have scarcely entered on our campaign of penance, when this affectionate Mother of ours comes to console us. If we abound in good works during this holy Season, in which we have taken leave of the distracting vanities of the world, the light of grace shall rise up even in the darkness which now clouds our soul. This soul, which has been so long obscured by sin and by the love of the world and self, shall become bright as the noon-day; the glory of Jesus’ Resurrection shall be ours too; and, if we are faithful to grace, the Easter of time will lead us to the Easter of eternity. Let us, therefore, build up the places that have been so long desolate; let us raise up the foundations, repair the fences, turn away our feet from the violation of holy observances, do not our own ways and our own will in opposition to those of our Divine Master; and then, he will give us everlasting rest, and fill our soul with his own brightness.

Gospel
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to St. Mark. Ch. vi.

At that time: When it was late, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and himself alone on the land. And seeing them labouring in rowing, (for the wind was against them,) and about the fourth watch of the night, he cometh to them walking upon the sea, and he would have passed by them. But they seeing him walking upon the sea, thought it was an apparition, and they cried out. For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he spoke with them, and said to them: Have a good heart, it is I, fear ye not. And he went up to them into the ship, and the wind ceased: and they were far more astonished within themselves: For they understood not concerning the loaves; for their heart was blinded. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Genezareth, and set to the shore. And when they were gone out of the ship, immediately they knew him: And running through that whole country, they began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. And whithersoever he entered, into towns or into villages or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch but the hem of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.

The Ship, the Church, has set sail; the voyage is to last Forty Days. The disciples labour in rowing, for the wind is against them; they begin to fear lest they may not be able to gain the port. But Jesus comes to them on the sea; he goes up to them in the ship; the rest of the voyage is most prosperous. The ancient Liturgists thus explain the Church’s intention in her choice of to-day’s Gospel. Forty Days of penance are, it is true, little enough for a long life that has been spent in everything save in God’s service; and yet, our cowardice would sink under these Forty Days, unless we had Jesus with us. Let us not fear ; it is He ; He prays with us, fasts with us, and does all our works of mercy with us. Was it not He that first began these Forty Days of expiation? Let us keep our eyes fixed on him, and be of good heart If we grow tired, let us go to him, as did the poor sick ones, of whom our Gospel speaks. The very touch of his garments sufficed to restore health to such as had lost it; let us go to him in his adorable Sacrament; and the divine life, whose germ is already within us, will develop itself, and the energy, which was beginning to droop in our hearts, will regain all its vigour.

Humilitate capita vestra Deo. 
Bow down your heads to God.

Fideles tui, Deus, per tua dona firmentur: ut eadem et percipiendo requirant, et quærendo sine fine percipiant. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. 
May thy faithful, O God, be strengthened by thy gifts; that, by receiving them, they may ever hunger after them, and hungering after them, they may have their desires satisfied in the everlasting possession of them. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us close our Saturday with a prayer to Mary, the refuge of sinners. Let us express the confidence we have in her by the following devout sequence. 

It is taken from the German missals of the fourteenth century.

Sequence

Tibi cordis in altari

Decet preces immolari,
Virgo sacratissima. 

It behooves us, O most holy Virgin, to offer thee, on the altar of our hearts, the offering of our prayers.


Nam cum in se sit inepta,
>Tuo Nato sit accepta
Per te precum victima. 

For whereas the sacrifice of our prayers has no merit of its own, it may be made acceptable, through thee, to thy Son.


Pro peccatis immolato
Peccatorum præsentato
Precum sacrificia. 

Present to him, who was sacrificed for sin, the sacrifice of sinners’ prayers.

Per te Deum adit reus,
Ad quem per te venit Deus:
Amborum tu media. 

It is through thee the sinner comes to God, for this God came to the sinner through thee, O thou the mediatrix between God and man!

Nec abhorre peccatores
Sine quibus nunquem fores
Tanto digna Filio. 

It was for the sake of sinners that thou wast made worthy of such a Son: canst thou, then, despise them?


Si non essent redimendi,
Nulla tibi pariendi
Redemptoram ratio. 

It was because there were sinners to be redeemed, that thou wast made Mother of the Redeemer.


Sed nec Patris ad consessum
Habuisses huc accessum,
Si non ex te genitum
Esset ibi positum. 

Neither wouldst thou be seated nigh the Father’s throne, hadst thou not been Mother of him who shares his Father’s throne.


Virgo, Virgo sic promota
Causa nostri, nostra vota
Promovenda suscipe
Coram summo Principe. Amen. 


Take, then, O holy Virgin, who for our sake hast been thus exalted, take thou our prayers, and present them to our sovereign Lord. Amen.

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A reminder ....