Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Lent: Missa “Exáudi, Deus”
The church of the collecta corresponds to the present Station Sancta Caterina dei Funari; at one time Sancta Maria domnæ rosæ was the residence of the Dean of the Lateran Schola, and in 1536 Pope Paul III granted it to St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded there an institution for poor girls. The Church of St. Lawrence in Damaso is built on a spot full of memories connected with the family of Pope Damasus (366-84). His relics rest under the high Altar.
Commemoration of St Cuthbert, Bishop & Confessor
Cuthbert was born in Northumbria in northern England about 625. One night, while tending a herd of sheep, he saw lights in the sky which he interpreted as a soul being escorted heavenward by a band of angels. Later, he learned that Aidan of Lindisfarne (31 August 651) had died that night, and he resolved to enter the monastic life. He was a monk at Melrose Abbey from 651 to 664, and when the Abbot, Eata, became abbot and bishop at Lindisfarne, Cuthbert accompanied him and was Prior there until 676.
Although he had been brought up in the Celtic customs, he accepted the decrees of the Synod of Whitby in 663, which committed the English Church to following instead the Roman customs that had been introduced into Canterbury by Augustine, and so he helped to minimize contention over the decision.
Although his real preference was for the solitary life of a hermit, he recognized a duty to minister to the needs of the people about him. Year after year he made long journeys, on horseback and on foot, to Durham and throughout Northumbria, and in the regions of Berwick and Galloway, preaching to the scattered population in remote and sparsely settled areas, instructing them in the faith and encouraging them in the practice of it, urging them in times of sickness not to rely on charms or amulets, but to pray to God and put their trust in His mercy and love. Like Francis of Assisi, he had a remarkable rapport with animals, both wild and domestic.
Theodore, the Archbishop of Canterbury, made Cuthbert Bishop of Hexham, but he was a solitary by nature, and promptly exchanged bishoprics with Eata so as to remain at Lindisfarne. After two years, he retired to the neighboring island of Farne as a hermit, and died there the following year.
INTROIT Psalm 54: 2, 3
Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication: be attentive to me, and hear me. (Ps. 54: 3, 4) I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. V. Glory be
COLLECT
May the fasts of the sacred observance, we beseech Thee, O Lord, make us to grow in holiness and procure for us the continual help of Thy favor. Through our Lord…
For St Cuthbert
O GOD, who by the inestimable gift of thy grace dost glorify thy Saints, grant, we beseech thee; that at the intercession of blessed Cuthbert thy Confessor and Bishop, fwe may be found worthy to attain to the perfection of all virtues. Through our Lord…
LESSON Exodus 20: 12-24
This Lesson contains the beautiful prayer of Moses for his people, who had fallen into the sin of idolatry. This is perfect love: to be willing that one’s name be struck off from the book of life rather than let one’s own brethren perish beneath the justice of God. God announced to Moses His intention to destroy the ungrateful race of the Jews: Almighty God had seen His people prostrated at the foot of the Golden Calf. Moses prayed, and his prayer appeased the anger of God. Let us do penance and Our Lord shall hear our prayers.
Lesson from the Book of Exodus. In those days, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Go down from the mountain; thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned. They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them; and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and, sacrificing victims to it, have said, These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And again the Lord said to Moses, I see that this people is stiffnecked: let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation. But Moses besought the Lord his God, saying, Why, O Lord, is Thy indignation enkindled against Thy people, whom Thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, with great power and with a mighty hand? Let not the Egyptians say, I beseech Thee, He craftily brought them out, that He might kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth; let Thy anger cease, and be appeased upon the wickedness of Thy people: remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou sworest by Thy own self, saying, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and this whole land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and you shall possess it forever. And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which He had spoken against His people.
GRADUAL Psalm 43: 26, 2
Arise O Lord, bring help to us, and deliver us for Thy name’s sake. V. O God, we have heard with our ears; and our fathers have declared to us the work which Thou didst work in their days, in the days of old.
GOSPEL St. John 7: 14-31
In going up to the feast of Tabernacles only when the festival was well begun, Jesus wishes to teach us to love and reverence the sacred Liturgy and the rites of religion, and shows us that He Himself is the center of creation and of all history. He confounds His perfidious enemies by appealing to the authority of Moses, but fails to change their hearts.
At that time, about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews wondered, saying, How doth this man know letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If any man will do the will of Him, He shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself. He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of Him that sent him, he is true, and there is no injustice in him. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why seek you to kill Me?” The multitude answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who seeketh to kill Thee? Jesus answered and said to them, “One work I have done, and you all wonder. Therefore Moses gave you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath-day you circumcise a man. If a man receive circumcision on the Sabbath-day, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry at Me because I have healed the whole man on the Sabbath-day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment.” Some therefore of Jerusalem said, Is not this He Whom they seek to kill? and behold He speaketh openly, and they say nothing to Him. Have the rulers known for a truth that this is the Christ? But we know this man whence He is; but when the Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is. Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching, and saying, “You both know Me, and you know whence I am: and I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, Whom you know not. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He hath sent Me.” They sought therefore to apprehend Him: and no man laid hands on Him because His hour was not yet come. But of the people many believed in Him.
OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Psalm 39: 2, 3, 4
With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and He looked upon me: and He heard my prayer: and He put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God.
SECRET
May this offering, we beseech Thee, O Lord, wipe out our sins, and sanctify the bodies and minds of Thy servants for the celebration of the sacrifice. Through our Lord…
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Psalm 19: 6
We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we shall be exalted.
POSTCOMMUNION
May the reception of this sacrament, O Lord, cleanse us from guilt and bring us to the kingdom of Heaven. Through our Lord…
PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE
Have mercy on Thy people, O Lord, and from the unceasing tribulation under which they labor grant them relief in Thy mercy. Through our Lord…