EDITOR’s
NOTE: I will be traveling out of the
country until March 3, and will not have regular access to a computer. As a result, the daily postings may be
incomplete or missing. Sorry for any
inconvenience.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
The Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian
O Lord and Master of my life, keep from me the spirit of
indifference and discouragement, lust of power and idle chatter.
[kneel/prostration]
Instead, grant to me,
Your servant, the spirit of wholeness of being, humble-mindedness, patience,
and love.
[kneel/prostration]
O Lord and King, grant
me the grace to be aware of my sins and not to judge my brother; for You are
blessed now and ever and forever.
Amen.
[kneel/prostration]
DAILY MASS READINGS
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Thus says the Lord
GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
"Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?"
Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
Responsorial
Psalm
Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19
Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not
spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Gospel
Mt 9:14-15
Mt 9:14-15
The disciples of John
approached Jesus and said,
"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered them,
"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered them,
"Can the
wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast."
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast."
SAINT OF THE DAY
February
24
St.
Tarasius (730 – 806)
St. Tarasius was subject of the Byzantine Empire. He was
raised to the highest honors in the Empire as Consul, and later became first
secretary to the Emperor Constantine and his mother, Irene.
When being elected Patriarch of Constantinople, he consented to accept the dignity
offered to him only on condition that a General Council should be summoned to resolve
the disputes concerning the veneration of sacred images, for Constantinople had been separated from the Holy See on account of the war between the Emperors. The Council was held in the
Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople in 786; it met again the following year at Nice and its decrees were approved by the Pope. The holy Patriarch incurred the enmity of the Emperor by his persistent
refusal to sanction his divorce from his lawful wife. He witnessed the
death of Constantine, which was occasioned by his own mother; he beheld the
reign and the downfall of Irene and usurpation of Nicephorus.
St. Tarasius'
whole life in the Episcopacy was one of penance and prayer, and of hard labor to reform his clergy and
people. He occupied the See of Constantinople twenty-one years and two months. His charity toward
the poor was one of the characteristic virtues of his life. He visited in
person, all the houses and hospitals in Constantinople, so that no indigent person might be overlooked in the distribution of alms. This
saintly Bishop
was called to his eternal reward in the year 806.
OFFICE OF
READINGS
O Lord, open
my lips.
And my mouth
will proclaim your praise.
Invitatory
Psalm
Psalm 99
(100)
Come, today,
and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.
– Come,
today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.
Rejoice in
the Lord, all the earth,
and serve
him with joy.
Exult as you
enter his presence.
– Come,
today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.
Know that
the Lord is God.
He made us
and we are his
– his
people, the sheep of his flock.
– Come,
today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.
Cry out his
praises as you enter his gates,
fill his
courtyards with songs.
Proclaim him
and bless his name;
for the Lord
is our delight.
His mercy
lasts for ever,
his
faithfulness through all the ages.
– Come,
today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.
Glory be to
the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in
the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world
without end.
Amen.
– Come,
today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.
Hymn
The fast, as
taught by holy lore,
We keep in
solemn course once more:
The fast to
all men known, and bound
In forty
days of yearly round.
More sparing
therefore let us make
The words we
speak, the food we take,
Our sleep
and pleasure. Closer barred
Be every
sense in holy guard.
Avoid the
evil thoughts that roll
Like waters
o’er the heedless soul;
Nor let the
foe occasion find
Our souls in
slavery to bind.
Thy grace
have we offended sore,
By sins, O
God, which we deplore;
But pour
upon us from on high,
O pardoning
One, thy clemency.
Remember
thou, though frail we be,
That yet
thine handiwork are we;
Nor let the
honor of thy name
Be by
another put to shame.
Forgive the
sin that we have wrought;
Increase the
good that we have sought;
That we at
length, our wanderings o’er,
May please
thee here and evermore.
Blest Three
in One, and One in Three,
Almighty
God, we pray to thee,
That this
our fast of forty days
May work our
profit and thy praise.
Psalm 77
(78)
The history
of salvation: the Lord's goodness, his people's infidelity
Our fathers have told us of the might of the
Lord and the marvellous deeds he has done.
Listen, my
people, to my teaching;
open your
ears to the words of my mouth.
I shall open
my mouth in explanation,
I shall tell
of the secrets of the past.
All that we
have heard and know –
all that our
fathers told us –
we shall not
hide it from their descendants,
but will
tell to a new generation
the praise
of the Lord, and his power,
and the
wonders that he worked.
He set up a
covenant with Jacob,
he gave a
law to Israel;
he commanded
our ancestors to pass it on to their children,
so that the
next generation would know it,
the children
yet to be born.
They shall
rise up and tell the story to their children,
so that they
put their trust in God,
so that they
do not forget the works of God,
so that they
keep his commandments;
so that they
do not become like their fathers,
rebellious
and troublesome,
a generation
of fickle hearts,
of souls
unfaithful to God.
The sons of
Ephraim, the bowmen,
fled when it
came to battle;
they did not
keep their covenant with God,
they refused
to follow his law.
They forgot
his deeds
and the
wonders he had shown them.
In front of
their ancestors he had worked his wonders,
in the land
of Egypt, in the plains of Tanis.
He divided
the sea and led them across,
he held back
the waters as if in a bag.
He led them
in a cloud by day;
and through
the night, in the light of fire.
He split the
rock in the desert
and gave
them water as if from bottomless depths.
He brought
forth streams from the rock
and made the
waters flow down in rivers.
Glory be to
the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in
the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world
without end.
Amen.
Our fathers have told us of the might of the
Lord and the marvellous deeds he has done.
Psalm 77
(78)
The sons of Israel ate manna and drank spiritual
drink from the rock which followed them.
Still they
insisted on sinning against him,
they stirred
up the wrath of the Most High in the desert.
They put God
to the test in their hearts,
asking for
food, their desire.
They spoke
out against God, saying
“Can God lay
a table in the wilderness?”
He struck
the rock, and the waters poured out,
and the
streams were full to overflowing;
“But can he
give us bread?
Can he give
meat to his people?”
The Lord
heard all this, and he flared up in anger.
Fire blazed
against Jacob,
his wrath
rose up against Israel.
All this,
because they had no faith in God,
they had no
trust in his saving power.
He commanded
the clouds nevertheless,
and opened
the doors of the heavens.
Manna rained
down for them to eat:
he gave them
the bread of heaven.
Men ate the
food of angels;
he gave them
provisions in abundance.
In heaven he
stirred up the east wind,
he brought
the south wind, by his power:
he rained
meat on them as if it were dust,
winged
birds, like the sands of the sea,
to fall in
the middle of their camp,
all around
their tents.
They ate and
were full to bursting,
and so he
gave them their desire.
In the
middle of their enjoyment,
when the
food was still in their mouths,
the wrath of
God rose up against them,
and slew the
healthiest among them,
and laid low
the flower of Israel.
Glory be to
the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in
the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world
without end.
Amen.
The sons of Israel ate manna and drank spiritual
drink from the rock which followed them.
Psalm 77
(78)
They remembered that God was their helper and
their redeemer.
All this –
and still they sinned,
still they
had no faith in his wonders.
He made
their days vanish in a breath,
their years
in a headlong rush.
Whenever he
was killing them, they sought him,
repented and
came back to him at dawn:
they
remembered that God is their helper,
that God,
the Most High, is their saviour;
but their
speech to him was only flattery:
they lied to
him with their tongues,
their hearts
were dishonest towards him,
they did not
keep his covenant.
But the Lord
is merciful:
he forgives
sin, he does not destroy.
Always he
turned aside his anger,
held back
from unleashing all his wrath.
He
remembered that they were flesh –
a breath,
that goes and does not return.
Glory be to
the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in
the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world
without end.
Amen.
They remembered that God was their helper and
their redeemer.
Turn back to
the Lord your God,
– because he
is tenderness and compassion.
Reading
Exodus
2:1-22
There was a
man of the tribe of Levi who had taken a woman of Levi as his wife. She
conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing what a fine child he was, she
kept him hidden for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a
papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch, she put the child
inside and laid it among the reeds at the river’s edge. His sister stood some
distance away to see what would happen to him.
Now Pharaoh’s
daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her were
walking along by the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she
sent her maid to fetch it. She opened it and looked, and saw a baby boy,
crying; and she was sorry for him. ‘This is a child of one of the Hebrews’ she
said. Then the child’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and find
you a nurse among the Hebrew women to suckle the child for you?’ ‘Yes, go,’
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her; and the girl went off to find the baby’s own
mother. To her the daughter of Pharaoh said, ‘Take this child away and suckle
it for me. I will see you are paid.’ So the woman took the child and suckled
it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter who treated
him like a son; she named him Moses because, she said, ‘I drew him out of the
water.’
Moses, a man
by now, set out at this time to visit his countrymen, and he saw what a hard
life they were having; and he saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his
countrymen. Looking round he could see no one in sight, so he killed the
Egyptian and hid him in the sand. On the following day he came back, and there
were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, ‘What do
you mean by hitting your fellow countryman?’ ‘And who appointed you’ the man
retorted, ‘to be prince over us, and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you
killed the Egyptian?’ Moses was frightened. ‘Clearly that business has come to
light’ he thought. When Pharaoh heard of the matter he would have killed Moses,
but Moses fled from Pharaoh and made for the land of Midian. And he sat down
beside a well.
Now the
priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and fill the
troughs to water their father’s sheep. Shepherds came and drove them away, but
Moses came to their defence and watered their sheep for them. When they
returned to their father Reuel, he said to them, ‘You are back early today!’
‘An Egyptian protected us from the shepherds;’ they said ‘yes, and he drew water
for us and watered the flock.’ ‘And where is he?’ he asked his daughters. ‘Why
did you leave the man there? Ask him to eat with us.’ So Moses settled with
this man, who gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage. She gave birth to a
son, and he named him Gershom because, he said, ‘I am a stranger in a foreign
land.’
Responsory
It was by
faith that Moses,
when he grew
to manhood,
refused to
be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose to be ill-treated in
company with God’s people rather than to enjoy for a time the pleasures of sin,
because he
had his eyes fixed on God’s reward.
He reckoned
that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth far more than all the treasures
of Egypt;
it was by
faith that he left Egypt,
because he
had his eyes fixed on God’s reward.
Reading
A homily of
Pseudo-Chrysostom
Prayer is the light of the soul
The highest
good is prayer and conversation with God, because it means that we are in God’s
company and in union with him. When light enters our bodily eyes our eyesight
is sharpened; when a soul is intent on God, God’s inextinguishable light shines
into it and makes it bright and clear. I am talking, of course, of prayer that
comes from the heart and not from routine: not the prayer that is assigned to
particular days or particular moments in time, but the prayer that happens
continuously by day and by night.
Indeed the
soul should not only turn to God at times of explicit prayer. Whatever we are
engaged in, whether it is care for the poor, or some other duty, or some act of
generosity, we should remember God and long for God. The love of God will be as
salt is to food, making our actions into a perfect dish to set before the Lord
of all things. Then it is right that we should receive the fruits of our
labours, overflowing onto us through all eternity, if we have been offering
them to him throughout our lives.
Prayer is
the light of the soul, true knowledge of God, a mediator between God and men.
Prayer lifts the soul into the heavens where it hugs God in an indescribable
embrace. The soul seeks the milk of God like a baby crying for the breast. It
fulfils its own vows and receives in exchange gifts better than anything that
can be seen or imagined.
Prayer is a
go-between linking us to God. It gives joy to the soul and calms its emotions.
I warn you, though: do not imagine that prayer is simply words. Prayer is the
desire for God, an indescribable devotion, not given by man but brought about
by God’s grace. As St Paul says: For when we cannot choose words in order to
pray properly, the Spirit himself intercedes on our behalf in a way that could
never be put into words.
If God gives
to someone the gift of such prayer, it is a gift of imperishable riches, a
heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. Whoever tastes that food catches fire
and his soul burns for ever with desire for the Lord.
To begin on
this path, start by adorning your house with modesty and humility. Make it
shine brightly with the light of justice. Decorate it with the gold leaf of
good works, with the jewels of faithfulness and greatness of heart. Finally, to
make the house perfect, raise a gable above it all, a gable of prayer. Thus you
will have prepared a pure and sparkling house for the Lord. Receive the Lord
into this royal and splendid dwelling — in other words: receive, by his grace,
his image into the temple of your soul.
Responsory
Will you
still be forgetful of us,
through the
long years leave us forsaken?
Bring us
back,
Lord,
and let us
find our home.
Lord,
save us,
or we
perish.
Bring us back,
Lord,
and let us
find our home.
Let us pray.
Give us the
grace, Lord,
to continue
the works of penitence we have begun;
so that the
Lenten observance we have taken upon ourselves
may be
accomplished in sincerity of heart.
We make our
prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives
and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever
and ever.
Amen.
Let us bless
the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
