and touches his ears, saying: Ephpheta! that is, Be opened!1

There is an instruction of another kind included in our Gospel, and which is worthy of our notice, as closely bearing on what we have been saying regarding Humility. Our Lord imposes silence on those who have been witnesses of the miraculous cure, although he knew that their praise-worthy enthusiasm could never allow them to obey him. By his injunction, he wishes to give a lesson to his followers,-that if, at times, it is impossible to keep men from being in admiration at the works they achieve, if, sometimes, the Holy Spirit, in opposition to their wishes, forces them to undergo public applause for the greater glory of the God whose instruments they are,-yet must they always do all in their power to avoid being noticed; they must prefer to be despised, or, at least, not talked of; they must love to be hid in the secret of the face of God; and, after the most brilliant, just as truly as they would after the most menial duties, they must say from the heartiest conviction : We are unprofitable servants, we have but done what we ought to do.1

It is again the hymn of the humble, whether delivered, or healed, or glorified, by God, which is sung in the Offertory.

OFFERTORY.

Exaltabote, Domine, quoniam suscepisti me: nec delectasti inimicos meos super me: Domine, clamavi ad te, et sanasti me.

I will extol thee, O Lord, because thou hast upholden me, and hast not gratified the desire of mine enemies against me. Lord, I cried out to thee, and thou healed st me.

The assembly of God's servants beseech him, in the following Secret, graciously to accept their gifts;

1 Rit. rom. Ordo baptism.

2 Ps. lxxxiii. 11.

3 Ps. xxx. 21.

St. Luke, xvii. 10.

and, in this holy Sacrifice, to turn them into the homage of their delighted service, and the support of their weakness.

SECRET.

Look down, O Lord, we beseech thee, on our homage; that the gifts we offer thee may be acceptable to thee, and a help to our weakness. Through, etc.

Respice, Domine, quæsumus, nostram propitius servitutem: ut quod offerimus, sit tibi munus acceptum, et sit nostræ fragilitatis subsidium, Per Dominum.

The other Secrets, as in page 135.

No more appropriate Anthem, than the following, could have been selected, as the Communion, for the season which finds men busy in harvesting the fruits of the earth. Oh! yes, we should make it our first thought to give to God, through his Church and the poor, the first fruits of these blessings which He himself has bestowed upon us. But, in order becomingly to honour the Lord in this, we must take care not to boast, as the Pharisee did, in this our fulfilment of a duty so imperative, and yet so very profitable to ourselves who obey it.

COMMUNION.

Honour the Lord out of thy substance, and with the first fruits of thy crops; and thy barns shall be filled abundantly, and thy wine-presses shall overflow.

Honora Dominum de tua substantia, et de primitiis frugum tuarum: et implebuntur horrea tua saturitate, et vino torcularia redundabunt.

The heavenly remedy of these sacred Mysteries acts upon our body and soul: it is for the salvation of both, and, therefore, we should love these Mysteries as our best glory on earth. In the Postcommunion, the Church prays that her children may be blessed in the whole fulness of these blessings.

POST-COMMUNION.

Sentiamus, quæsumus Domine, tui perceptione sacramenti, subsidium mentis et corporis: ut in utroque salvati, cœlestis remedii plenitudine gloriemur. Per Dominum.

May we experience, by the participation of these thy mysteries, we beseech thee, Ŏ Lord, help in body and mind: that, in the salvation of both, we may enjoy the full effect of this heavenly remedy. Through, etc.

The other Postcommunion, as in page 137.

VESPERS.

The Psalms, Capitulum, Hymn and Versicle, as above, pages 74-84.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT.

Bene omnia fecit, et surdos fecit audire, et mutos loqui.

OREMUS.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui abundantia pietatis tuæ et merita supplicum excedis et vota: effunde super nos misericordiam tuam, ut dimittas quæ conscientia metuit, et adjicias quod oratio non præsumit. Per Dominum.

He hath done all things

well

he hath made both the

deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

LET US PRAY.

O almighty and eternal God, who, by the abundance of thy goodness, exceedest both the merits and the requests of thy suppliants pour forth thy mercy upon us: that thou mayst pardon what our conscience fears, and mayst grant what our prayer presumes not to ask. Through, etc.

THE TWELFTH SUNDAY

AFTER PENTECOST.

MASS.

On this Sunday, which is their Twelfth of Saint Matthew, the Greeks read, in the Mass, the episode of the young rich man who questions Jesus, given in the 19th Chapter of the Saint's Gospel. In the West, it is the Gospel of the good Samaritan, which gives its name to this twelfth Sunday after Pentecost.

:

The Introit begins with that beautiful verse of the 69th Psalm Come to mine assistance, O God! O Lord, make haste to help me! Cassian, in his tenth Conference has admirably drawn out the beauty of these words, and shows how they are appropriate for every circumstance of life, and how fully they respond to every sentiment of the Christian soul.1 Durandus applies this Introit's being, used in to-day's liturgy to Job, because the Lessons for the Divine Office, which are taken from that Book of Scripture, are sometimes, though not often, the ones which coincide with this Sunday. Rupert looks on this Introit as the fitting prayer of the deaf and dumb man, whose cure was the subject of our reflexions this day last week. He says: "The human race, in the person of our first parents, "had become deaf to the commandments of God, and "dumb in his praise; the first use he makes of his "untied tongue, is to call upon the God who had

1 CASS. Collat. x. 10.

2 DUR. Rat. vi. 126.

"healed him." The same words are the Church's first address, each morning, to her Creator, and her opening of each of the canonical hours, both day and night.

INTROIT.

Deus, in adjutorium meum intende: Domine, adadjuvandum me festina: confundantur, et revereantur inimici mei, qui quærunt animam meam.

Ps. Avertantur retrorsum, et erubescant, qui cogitant mihi mala. Gloria Patri. Deus.

Incline unto mine aid, O God! O Lord, make haste to help me! Let mine enemies be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul.

Ps. Let them be turned backward, and blush for shame, that desire evils to me. Glory, etc. Incline.

It frequently happens, (and we have already explained the reason,) that the Collect of the Masses for the Time after Pentecost contains an allusion to the Gospel of the foregoing Sunday. The one for to-day is evidently such. Eight days back, we were taught how man, who had rendered himself incapable of serving his Creator, finds by Divine mercy, that his supernatural faculties are restored to him; and that, then, he gives forth the voice of praise, and that, too, rightly (loquebatur recte).—The Church, taking up the idea here suggested, prays thus:

COLLECT.

Omnipotens et misericors Deus, de cujus munere venit, ut tibi a fidelibus tuis digne et laudabiliter serviatur: tribue, quæsumus, nobis; ut ad promissiones tuas sine offensione curraPer Dominum.

mus.

O almighty and merciful God, from whose gift it cometh, that thy Faithful worthily and laudably serve thee grant us, we beseech thee, that we may run on, without stumbling, to the things thou hast promised us. Through, etc.

The other Collects, as in page 125.

1 RUP. De div. Off. xii. 12.