THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. THE remaining Sundays are the last of the Church's cycle; but, their proximity with its final termination varies each Year, according as Easter was early or late. This their moveable character does away with anything like harmony between the composition of their Masses and the Lessons of the Night Office, all of which, dating from August, have been appointed and fixed for each subsequent week. This we have already explained to our Readers.' Still, the instruction, which the Faithful ought to derive from the sacred Liturgy, would be incomplete, and the spirit of the Church, during these last weeks of her Year, would not be sufficiently understood by her children, unless they were to remember, that the two months of October and November are filled, the first, with readings from the book of the Machabees, whose example inspirits us for the final combats, and the second, with lessons from the Prophets, proclaiming to us the judgments of God.2 MASS. Durandus, Bishop of Mende, in his Rational, tells us, that this, and the following Sundays till Advent, bear closely on the Gospel of the Marriage-Feast, of which they are really but a further development. "Whereas," says he, speaking of this twenty-first Sunday, "this Marriage has no more powerful op 1 The 7th Sund. aft. Pent. 2 See above, pp. 7, 8. ponent than the envy of Satan,-the Church speaks "to us, to-day, on our combat with him, and on the armour wherewith we must be clad, in order to go "through this terrible battle, as we shall see by the "Epistle. And because sackcloth and ashes are the "instruments of penance, therefore does the Church borrow, for the Introit, the words of Mardochai, "who prayed for God's mercy in sackcloth and "ashes." These reflexions of Durandus are quite true; but, if the thought of her having soon to be united with her divine Spouse is uppermost in the Church's mind, -yet, it is by forgetting her own happiness, and turning all her thoughts to mankind, whose salvation has been entrusted to her care by her Lord, that she will best prove herself to be truly his Bride, during the miseries of those last days. As we have already said,—the near approach of the general judgment, and the terrible state of the world during the period immediately preceding that final consummation of time, is the very soul of the Liturgy during these last Sundays of the Church's Year. As regards the present Sunday, the portion of the Mass which used formerly to attract the attention of our catholic forefathers, was the Offertory, taken from the book of Job, with its telling exclamations, and its emphatic repetitions. We may, in all truth, say, that this Offertory contains the ruling idea, which runs through this twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost. Reduced, like Job on the dung-hill, to the extremity of wretchedness, the world has nothing to trust to, but to God's mercy. The holy men who are still living in it, imitating in the name of all mankind, the sentiments of the just man of Idumea, honour God by a patience and resignation, which do but add power and intensity to their supplications. They 1 DUR. Ration. vi. 138. begin by making their own the sublime prayer made, by Mardochai, for his people, who were doomed to extermination. The world is condemned to a similar ruin.' INTROIT. In voluntate tua, Domine, universa sunt posita, et non est qui possit resistere voluntati tuæ: tu enim fecisti omnia, cœlum et terram, et universa quæ cœli ambitu continentur: Dominus universorum tu es. Ps. Beati immaculati in via: quia ambulant in lege Domini. Gloria Patri. In voluntate. All things, O Lord, are in thy power, and no one can resist thy will: for thou madest all things, heaven and earth, and all things that are contained within the compass of the heavens: thou art Lord of all. Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the way: who walk in the law of the Lord. Glory, etc. All things. The Church shows us very clearly, in the Collect, that, although she is quite ready to go through the roughest times, yet she prefers peace; because, that furnishes her with undisturbed freedom for paying to her God the united homage of religion and good works. The closing petition made by Mardochai, in the prayer, whose commencement forms our Introit, -was, that God would bestow on his people the liberty necessary for that occupation, on which the world's well-being ever depends,-we mean, the occupation of giving praise to God. These were Mardochai's grand words: May we live, and praise thy name, O Lord! and shut not thou the mouths of them that SING to thee! COLLECT. Familiam tuam, quæsumus Domine, continua pietate custodi: ut a cunctis adversitatibus, te protegen Preserve thy family, O Lord, we beseech thee, by thy constant mercy: that, under thy protection, it may be freed 1 Esth. xiii. 9-11. from all adversities, and be devoted to thy name in the practice of good works. Through, etc. te, sit libera: et in bonis actibus tuo nomini sit devota. Per Dominum. The other Collects, as in page 125. EPISTLE. Lesson of the Epistle of St. Paul, the Apostle, to the Ephesians. : Ch. vi Brethren Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power. Put ye on the armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirit of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that ye may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Lectio Epistolæ beati Pauli Apostoli ad Ephesios, Cap. vi. Fratres, Confortamini in Domino, et in potentia virtutis ejus. Induite vos armaturam Dei, ut possitis stare adversus insidias diaboli: quoniam non est nobis colluctatio adversus carnem et sanguinem: sed adversus principes et potestates, adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiæ, in cœlestibus. Propterea accipite armaturam Dei, ut possitis resistere in die malo, et in omnibus perfecti stare. State ergo succincti lumbos vestros in veritate, et induti loricam justitiæ, et calceati pedes in præparatione Evangelii pacis in omnibus sumentes scutum. fidei, in quo possitis omnia tela nequissimi ignea exstinguere et galeam salutis assumite: et gladium spiritus, quod est verbum Dei. The early beginnings of man's union with his God are, generally speaking, deliciously calm. Divine Wisdom, once he has led his chosen creature, by hard laborious work, to the purification of his mind and senses, allows him, (when the sacred alliance is duly concluded,) to rest on his sacred breast, and thoroughly attaches the devoted one to Himself, by delights which are an ante-dated heaven, making the soul despise every earthly pleasure. It seems as though the welcome law of Deuteronomy were always in force,' namely, that no battle, and no anxiety, must ever break in upon the first season of the glorious Union. But, this exemption from the general taxation is never of long duration; for, combat is the normal state of every man here below.2 The Most High is pleased at seeing a battle well fought by his christian soldiers. There is no name so frequently applied to Him by the Prophets, as that of the God of Hosts. His divine Son, who is the Spouse, shows himself here, on this earth of ours, as the Lord who is mighty in battle. In the mysterious nuptial Canticle of the forty-fourth Psalm, he lets us see him as Most Powerful Prince, girding on his grand Sword, and making his way, with his sharp arrows, through the very heart and thick of his enemies, in order to reach, in fair valiance and beautiful victory the Bride he has chosen as his own." She, too, just like him,-she, the Bride, whose beauty he has vouchsafed to love," and wills her to share in all his own glories, yes, she too advances towards him, in the glittering armour of a warrior,9 surrounded by choirslo singing the magnificent exploits of the Spouse, and, she herself terrible as an army set in array. The armour of the brave is on 'Deut. xxiv. 5. 2 Job. vii. 1. 3 Ps. xxiii. 8. 4 Ps. xliv. 4. 5 11 |