Jul 12 2008
Some Notes On Sunday July 13 Latin Mass (9th Sunday after Pentecost)
I hope to continue posting notes on the Latin Mass ahead of their schedule in the Lectionary. They can e accessed by clicking on the “Latin Mass Notes” link listed below my blogs title.
The introit is based upon Psalm 54:6-7, with Psalm 54:3 used as a sort of acclamation at the end. (Note: older version of the Bible may number psalm 54 as 53)
The introit is designed to set the theme(s) of the Mass. In this particular one we proclaim God as Helper and Protector of our souls who saves us by His name, and judges (or better, delivers) us in His strength; and we ask that our enemies be thwarted.
Of course, we can call upon God and expect His mercy only in humility, therefore, at the prayer preceding the Epistle we pray: “Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy lowly petitioners and in order to satisfy their desires, make them ask only such things as are pleasing to Thee, through Christ Our Lord.”
God is “Gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in kindness and fidelity, maintaining his loving kindness for thousands of generations and forgiving iniquity, transgressions and sins; but not declaring the guilty guiltless” (see Exodus 34:6-7). It is therefore necessary that man remain humbly under God’s mercy, or humbly seek it after losing it; for God is merciful, even to sinners (see Psalm 51:2-21). God’s mercy is not just something He has; it is His very being (Hosea 11:8-9). God, it could be said, lives to give and show mercy: As I live, says the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man’s conversion, that he may live” (Ezekiel 33:11).
Nonetheless, God’s justice, which manifests itself in the salvation of the repentant and the righteous (Isaiah 56:1-2), also manifests itself in the punishment of sinners (Isaiah 28:17-18). The Epistle for today, 1 Corinthians 10:6-13, gives us a warning. The Israelites in the desert experienced God’s saving deeds; deeds which foreshadowed His gifts of Baptism and Eucharist, “Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert” (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-5; Numbers 14:28-38). “These things happened as an example to us, that we may not desire the evil things they did.” We must not succumb to temptations, but rely upon God who is our ‘helper,” “the protector of my (our) soul(s)” (introit); the only one who satisfies our desires, and who makes us “ask only such things as are pleasing” to Him (Prayer before the Epistle). “God is faithful, and He will not allow you to e tempted beyond your strength” (Epistle, vs 13), for he saves and delivers “in His strength” (Introit).
The Gradual is from Psalm 8:2, and the context is important here. For that verse is immediately followed by these words “Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have fashioned praise against your foes.” As the children glorified Christ in the temple his enemies objected, and it is this Psalm verse Jesus invoked against them (See Matthew 21:14-16). Todays Gospel reading is from Luke 19:41-47. This is the end of His journey which began when he (according to the literal Greek) “hardened his face to go to Jerusalem.” This is a prophetic phrase (see Ezekiel 21:7-8). Christ has come in judgment to Jerusalem. He should have found the people repentant (see Luke 13:1-5), and fruitful, like a well tended tree (see Luke13:6-9; Mark 11:12-14). Instead He found them without the fruits of faith (see Mark 11:20-25). Consequently, He weeps, and utters the saddest words of His ministry: If thou hadst known, in this thy day, even thou, the things that are for thy peace! But now they are hidden from thy eyes. For days will come upon thee when thy enemies with throw up a rampart about thee, and surround thee and shut thee in on every side, and will dash thee to the ground and thy children within thee, and will not leave thee one stone upon another, because thou hast not know the time of thy visitation” (Gospel reading). They had refused the mercy of God, who was their helper, and protector of their souls (Introit). Like their forefathers in the desert, they stand as an example and a warning to us (Epistle), for judgment always begins with the house of God (see 1 Peter 4:17). God’s house is a house of prayer, and when the proud, the unrighteous, and the unrepentant live in it to attempt to plunder God’s mercy, they turn it into a den of thieves (Gospel).
But “the justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts, and His judgments sweeter than honey and the honeycomb,” but only because His “servant keepeth them” (Offertory from Psalm 18). We must, therefore, “worthily frequent these Mysteries, because every time this memorial is offered up, the work of our redemption is carried on” (secret). And when we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus, we abide in Him and He in us (communion prayer), and thus obtain purity of heart and unity with one another (Post communion prayer). Let us not, therefore, “eat and drink, and then rise up to play” the hypocrite, as those of the desert generation did (Epistle). Let us remember that Christ is present at every Mass, and that, therefore, every Mass is “the day of our visitation” (Gospel).
For further reading
The Revelation of Mercy This and the next three links are from the English text of Dives in Misericordia, by Pope John Paul II
When Christ began to Do and to Teach
The Concept of Mercy in the Old Testament
ST 1a. 2ae. 109 On the necessity of Grace
ST 1a. 114 On the Assaults of Demons
Profession Without Hypocrisy John Henry Newman
Chastisement Amid Mercy John Henry Newman
