R. Quia peccavimus tibi. V. Prostrati omnes lacrymas producimus: pandentes tibi occulta quæ admisimus, a te, Deus, veniam deposcimus. R. Quia peccavimus tibi. V. Orationes sacerdotum accipe, et quæque postulant affluenter tribue ac tuæ plebi miserere, Domine. R. Quia peccavimus tibi. V. Furorem tuum adduxisti super nos: nostra delicta dira curvaverunt nos et absque ulla spe defecimus. R. Quia peccavimus tibi. . Traditi sumus malis quæ nescimus, et omne malum irruit super nos: et invocavimus: et non audivimus. R. Quia peccavimus tibi. V. Omnes clamamus : omnes te requirimus: te poenitentes lacrymis prosequimur: cujusque iram ipsi provocavimus. B. Quia peccavimus tibi. V. Te deprecantes, te gementes poscimus: te, Jesu Christe, prosternati petimus: tua potestas jam sublevet miseros. R. Quia peccavimus tibi. B. For we have sinned against thee. W. We all prostrate before thee, and pour out our tears: we confess unto thee our hidden sins, and beseech thee, O God, to pardon us. R. For we have sinned against thee. V. Receive the prayers of thy priests, and abundantly grant what they ask and have mercy on thy people, O Lord. R. For we have sinned against thee. V. Thou art angry against us: our heinous crimes have bowed us down to the earth: and we have grown faint, because there is no hope within us. R. For against thee. we have sinned V. We have been made a prey to evils that we know not, and every evil has come upon us: we have called upon thee, and we have heard no reply. R. For we have sinned against thee. V. We all cry unto thee: we all seek thee: we are repentant, and weeping follow thee, for we have provoked thy anger. R. For we have sinned against thee. V. We beseech thee, we sigh out our prayers to thee: O Jesus, we prostrate before thee, and petition thee: let thy power raise us from our misery. R. For we have sinned against thee. V. Receive thy people's confession: full of sorrow, we pour it out before thee and our hearts are sad for the sins we have committed. B. For we have sinned against thee. V. We sue for peace; grant us peace! Avert the scourge of war, and deliver us, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord! B. For we have sinned against thee. V. Bow down thine ear, O most merciful God! Cleanse us from the stains of our sins, and, in thy pity, deliver us from all dangers. R. Have mercy on us and spare us. . Confessionem tuæ plebis accipe: quam lamentantes coram te effundimus : et pro admissis corde ingemiscimus. R. Quia peccavimus tibi. V. Pacem rogamus, pacem nobis tribue: amove bella et nos omnes erue : humili prece postulamus, Domine. R. Quia peccavimus tibi. . Inclina aurem, Deus clementissime: jam abluantur delictorum macula: et a periculis tu benignus exime. R. Miserere et parce. WEDNESDAY IN EMBER WEEK. THE fast of to-day is prescribed by a double law: it is Lent, and it is Ember Wednesday. It is the same with the Friday and Saturday of this week. There are two principal objects for the Ember days of this period of the year: the first is, to offer up to God the Season of Spring, and, by fasting and prayer, to draw down his blessing upon it; the second is, to ask him to enrich with his choicest graces the Priests and Sacred Ministers who are to receive their Ordination on Saturday. Let us, therefore, have a great respect for these three days; and let those who violate, upon them, the laws of Fasting or Abstinence, know that they commit a two-fold sin. Up to the 11th century, the Ember Days of Spring were kept in the first week of March; and those of Summer, in the second week of June. It was St. Gregory the Seventh who fixed them as we now have them; that is, the Ember Days of Spring in the first week of Lent, and those of Summer in Whitsun Week. The Station for to-day is the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. Let us honour the Mother of God, the Refuge of Sinners; and let us ask her to present to our Divine Judge the humble tribute of our penance. COLLECT. Devotionem populi tui, quæsumus, Domine, benignus intende ut qui per We beseech thee, O Lord, mercifully to regard the devotion of thy people; that morti fying their bodies by fasting, their minds may be refreshed by good works. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. abstinentiam macerantur in corpore, per fructum boni operis reficiantur in mente. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. Amen. The Epistle of the Mass for all the Ember Wednesdays consists of two Lessons from Sacred Scripture. To-day the Church brings before us the two great types of Lent,-Moses and Elias,-in order to impress us with an idea of the importance of this Forty Days' Fast, which Christ himself solemnly consecrated when he observed it, and thus fulfilled, in his own person, what the Law and the Prophets had but prefigured. FIRST LESSON. Lesson from the book of Ch. XXIV. In those days: the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written, that thou mayest teach them. Moses rose up, and his minister Josue; and Moses going up into the mount of God, said to the ancients: Wait ye here till we return to you, you have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question shall rise, you shall refer it to them. And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days, and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud. And the Lectio libri Exodi. Cap. XXIV. In diebus illis dixit Dominus ad Moysen : Ascende ad me in montem et esto ibi, daboque tibi tabulas lapideas, et legem ac mandata, quæ scripsi, ut doceas filios Israël. Surrexerunt Moyses et Josue minister ejus. Ascendensque Moyses in montem Dei, senioribus ait: Exspectate hic donec revertamur ad vos. Habetis Aaron et Hur vobiscum. Si quid natum fuerit quæstionis, referetis ad eos. Cumque ascendisset Moyses, operuit nubes montem, et habitavit gloria Domini super Sinaï, tegens illum nube sex diebus: septimo autem die vocavit eum de medio caliginis. Erat autem spe cies gloriæ Domini, quasi ignis ardens super verticem montis in conspectu filiorum Israël. Ingressusque Moyses medium nebulæ, ascendit in montem: et fuit ibi quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus. sight of the glory of the Lord, was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain; and he was there forty days and forty nights. SECOND LESSON. Lectio libri Regum. III. Cap. XIX. In diebus illis: venit Elias in Bersabee Juda, et dimisit ibi puerum suum, et perrexit in desertum, viam unius diei. Cumque venisset, et sederet subter unam juniperum, petivit animæ suæ ut moreretur, et ait: Sufficit mihi, Domine: tolle animam meam : neque enim melior sum quam patres mei. Projecitque se et obdormivit in umbra juniperi: et ecce Angelus Domini tetigit eum, et dixit illi: Surge, et comede. Respexit, et ecce ad caput suum subcinericius panis, et vas aquæ: comedit ergo et bibit, et rursum obdormivit. Reversusque est Angelus Domini secundo, et tetiget eum, dixitque illi: Surge, comede: grandis enim tibi restat via. Qui cum surrexisset, comedit et bibit, et ambulavit in fortitudine cibi illius quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus, usque ad montem Dei Horeb. Lesson from the book of Kings. III. Ch. XIX. In those days: Elias came into Bersabee of Juda, and left his servant there. And he went forward one day's journey into the desert. And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said: It is enough for me, Lord; take away my soul, for I am no better than my fathers. And he cast himself down, and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree; and behold an Angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him: Arise and eat. And he looked, and behold there was at his head a hearthcake and a vessel of water; and he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again. And the Angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: Arise, eat; for thou hast yet a great way to go. And he arose, and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb, the mount of God. |